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On the foreign front, the reign of Jonas I was marked by the seven year long East Asian War between the Netherlands Free State and Portugal. The Dutch were a rising maritime power for half a century by then, and their ambitions to control the world trade flow were dangerous to the Portuguese, who held a monopoly in trade with East Asia and profited greatly from it - and thus the two maritime powers clashed for supremacy. Interestingly enough, this can also be considered to be one of the first proxy wars in history, as most of the fighting between the two nations was done by local Indonesian and Indochinese kings and rulers allied with one of the Europeans. In the end, however, the Dutch prevailed, and the influence held by Portugal in East Asia was severely curbed. While they still retained Manuela, their prize colony, they had to cede numerous trade ports in Asia, most notably Taiwan and Macao. Coupled with their holdings in North Vespucia, the Dutch were establishing themselves as one of the primary great powers in Europe, at least for now.

The beginning of Žygimantas I's reign was quite chaotic. The supporters of Jonas I were angry at the surprise coup, and the population was growing restless. The new Emperor had lots of ambitions himself - he wished to continue his father's absolutist policy, conquer Volga-Russia once and for all, continue expanding West and perhaps into the Balkans. But achieving all of these wishes would require some serious work, and the opposition to his rule was strong. The first few years of Žygimantas I's rule were slow, focused on establishing power within all of the regions of the Empire. One way or the other, the new Emperor managed to replace most of the former Voivodes with loyalists of his regime, securing the army for his apparatus. The armed forces of the Empire of Lithuania were always the most powerful tool in the hands of the monarchs - ever since it's foundation, Lithuania had been a nation focused on militarism. Control of the Army almost always led to you being the most powerful person in the country, and the rest of the government institutions, like the bureaucracy and religion, were secondary matters.

One of the crowning achievements of Žygimantas I's reign was the creation of the Third Statute of Lithuania, compiled in 1661-1665. This document greatly expands on the Second Statute of Lithuania, updating numerous laws and punishments and setting the tone for the rest of the Emperor's reign. Serfdom was reaffirmed and in many cases even strengthened, for example, fugitive serfs were now always required to be returned back to their owner rather than emancipated after a specific time period. Žygimantas I hoped to receive the support of the reactionary nobility with this change - whether it worked is up to history to decide. The country's status as a hardened absolute monarchy was now finalized, too - the Council of Lords now only had an advisory role on royal matters, although the court remained powerful in actually influencing policies. The Statutes of Lithuania were once again notable for their progressive legal tradition, and greatly influenced the development of codified law across the continent, even if they were reactionary in many aspects.

Much like his father, Emperor Žygimantas was a military man and was not interested in the arts or sciences, but he did not completely abandon them like, say, Teodoras I. Even though the shackles of serfdom greatly limited the development of cities and all that came with them, the first manufactories, called "ekonomijos" ("economies") began cropping up throughout the nation during his reign, mostly funded by private investors wishing to diversify. However, their structure was much different from what was developing rapidly in the West. For one, these "ekonomijos" used manorial labor rather than hired workers, and many of them were established in noble estates rather than in cities. As such, they were extremely ineffective, even if they applied modern technology, and most of them went bankrupt. The few that survived became a small, weak foundation for an incoming modern economy, and this was not a good sign. Throughout the 17th century, the prices of grain and lumber began to drop as alternative suppliers like North Vespucia began to come into play, and since these two resources were Lithuania's primary exports to Western Europe, this was obviously concerning to them. And the Lithuanian nobility, which held almost all of the land within the country, was well aware of this problem. Some tried fighting the dropping revenue with higher production, but it would only cause the price to shrink even faster than normal.

This elongated "grain crisis", beginning around the year 1650 and extending for over a century, would come to haunt Lithuania for many times. It was becoming clear that surviving as a mono-export state was not fit for such a powerful empire, and something had to be done to diversify. Many others were denying that this was even a problem, and that the grain price will stabilize over time, so there is no need to worry and potentially infest your mind with dreams of, say, abolition of serfdom. Who'd ever want to do that? Oh, right, all of Western Europe has already pretty much abandoned it and are reaping the positive results...

The "grain crisis" was also problematic to the monarch, as diminishing income from taxes and tariffs led to holes in the budget, most of which was being spent on the military and paying for the court. Žygimantas I decided that the financial problems will need to be fixed in the long term, but for now, the people need to be distracted by something - how about a quick war? And in fact, the 1660s looked like the beginning of a new Twenty Years' War to many spectators. The organization of the continent after the Treaty of Amsterdam was not supported by everyone, most notably Spain and Visegrad, whose power was curbed after the disastrous conflict. Visegrad's revanchism was directed towards two empires - the Ottomans and Lithuania. While the Ottomans were vegetating and dealing with their overextended empire, Lithuania seemed too powerful to take on - but the Lithuanians wanted war against Visegrad as well. Žygimantas I was quick to bring up the Polish Succession War into question - should Poland really be a part of the Union of the Triple Crown, or should it instead serve under him?

1667 looked like it was going to be the beginning of a new great European war, but it never came to yield fruit. Lithuania was preparing for war against the Visegradians, but this potential shift in power balance was not appreciated by the rest of Europe, and rightfully so. The Lithuanian nobility was not willing to go to war, either, especially when the treasury of the Empire was already half empty and the war would most likely turn into a stalemate. Sweden immediately stood besides Visegrad, which was now seen as the victim of the situation, and France protested the belligerent actions taken by the Lithuanian forces. Žygimantas I blamed Visegrad for funding uprisings in Lithuanian Galicia and demanded compensation, but he got squat. The Polish Crisis was a Lithuanian diplomatic defeat, the Empire backed down, fearing a pan-European coalition on their doorstep, and the order created by the Treaty of Amsterdam endured for another day.

Twenty years of Žygimantas's rule had passed, and the aging king realized that he has achieved so little so far. And in fact, his inaction towards the "grain crisis" has resulted in his empire growing even weaker than what Jonas I left him. Something had to be done. Someone must fall beneath him.

But who?