early game expansion tactics

[Andy]

based on my limited PBEM experience to date I don't seem to be expanding fast enough to be competitive.

I'm using pretender to lead my main army but after taking each province this means they're sitting idle for a turn while I search for hidden magic sites

is this how most people play? I suppose I could hire a commander for my army and use my pretender purely for sniffing out magic sites, but this seems to be a waste of a powerful combat advantage.

any suggestions will be appreciated.