Catholic Vs Desert

[caravel]

Bribing take a number of turns, first send the emissary and you'll see the estimated cost of the bribe and the confirmation question. If you opt to try the bribe, and if your coffers can stand it, then the emissary will attempt it the next year. End turn. The next year you will receive the result of the bribe mission. This is will usually be either that, they were too loyal (refused) or that they have joined you. You may also see something to the effect that you no longer have enough money to bribe them, but do you want to offer everything you have or forget it. There is also the possibility that the army's value will change somehow. The emissary will inform you that they're now worth more/less and offer you the option of abandoning, continuing with the initial offer or raising/lowering the bribe amount accordingly. If after all of this you reach a successful outcome the emissary will inform you that they will join your army the next year and the bribed army will change to a hostile stance and begin flashing from it's old colours to it's new ones (yours)*. End turn. The following year the army will be under your control like any other. You will notice that loyalty values among unit leaders and the general will have changed, usually positively, though some may still be quite poor.

It's at the stage where the succesfully bribed flashing unit is visible that you can then drop in your supporting units to assist.

*if after successfuly bribing a rebel stack you notice that the stack is not flashing from rebel colours to your colours but instead from another faction's colours to your faction's colours, then this is actually a - rather useful - bug that shows their previous allegiance before they became rebel. This type of rebel stack are probably the product of a civil war, and have "remembered" their previous allegience. In a loyalist revolt rebels such as these will often revert to their old faction, often taking whole (rebel) provinces with them.