You can never die on strategus, and noone can steal your silver, use this to your advantage to save money in case you are attacked and lose (wether due to too few troops, too few stuff or too small a roster). Good luck building up as a merchant, but know that using S&D in fiefs you do not own is almost all the time considered an hostile move, except if you have a deal with said fiefs owners, or they are one of the rare open trade fiefs!
Mind you, even if it is considered stealing, it is hard to catch all the S&D thieves so you can go a long time before someone intercept you.
