I think you'll find that doesn't work and is certainly not fun game-play. When no one makes gold, there are no wars.
There is always gold. You may receive 50 gold a week today, and expect to receive 80 gold a week in three months - or a city may support 4 knights now, and 12 down the road. But there is always gold.
To be honest the game has not been the same since peasant numbers started affecting production. It has done nothing but add months of wait for regions to recover and that has done nothing but lead to less wars due to fears of the destruction it causes.
When was that, a century ago? I don't remember that ever being the case, and I've been playing for quite some time.
