The Heavenly Kingdom

Hold the Hegemony of China as the Head of Faith of a Christian faith - and the wiki's route is the Fishing in China campaign with a theological twist, since Hæsteinn's China run passes conveniently near the Nestorian holy site of Kerala. Setup: Conquerors Frequency to None (otherwise Vicayâla Chola turns Conqueror and can squat on the holy site). En route east: Adventure CB onto the African coast, raid with Capture intent, execute prisoners and pilgrimage until you've banked ~4,000 piety, take Kerala, then push to the Chinese border. Before claiming the Mandate: convert to Nestorianism and create your own Christian faith with a temporal Head of Faith - you (faiths can't be created at war, so time it between conquests). Resetting perks into Apostate and Prophet slashes the creation cost - Hæsteinn conveniently starts with a stack of Learning perks. Then take China as God's own Viking.