Imperial Diet

[GeneralHankerchief]

Kaiser Heinrich:

This is not the time to make use of tactical maneuvering or diplomacy. This may shock the Diet, I know, but now is the time for something different.

In the twilight of my Chancellorship, the Pope had the audacity to twice -twice! - violate the Empire's borders and instruct me on how to conduct diplomacy. He flaunts his power and authority openly. He knows that we have not the resources to seriously challenge him, so he prances through Imperial territory with the largest army he can find, knowing we can do nothing. The Milanese, our former subjects, seek to now make us their subjects. They have brazenly besieged Bern, which we at the time had just conquered.

Now is the time to show the world our power.

I admit, good Electors, that I am to blame for the reason that we have had to reclaim our glory in the first place. I have made some errors in the past, if you will. The Investiture Controversy threatened to shatter our Reich and change the way Europe has worked forever - in a way the second scenario has already happened. However, I do believe that the actions that this Diet and I have taken in my just-concluded Chancellorship have prevented the gradual crumbling of this great nation.

What we have accomplished in the previous years is no small feat. Under my Chancellorship, we have doubled in size. We have grown in power, and we have financially stabilized ourselves. Why should we still be taking orders from Pope Gregory and fighting passively against the Milanese? These people had the nerve to attack us, to publicly humiliate us! We must strike back with a fury. We do this so that all the world knows that they are subservient to us!

I remind the Diet that we have been given an oppurtunity to shine on the world's stage with the Milan and Papal situation. I beg to them that we do not squander it.

If we properly make a statement now, then I assure you, we will have to worry about very little for quite a long time.

Edict 3.8: Milan is to be crushed by an offensive campaign, one that does not wait for Papal opinion or any other outside factor to strike. Kaiser Heinrich is to have a major role in this campaign.

Edict 3.9: Edict 1.1 is hereby repealed.

I second Edict 3.5 and Charter Amendments 3.1 and 3.3.

I also support good Sigismund der Stolze in his bid for Chancellorship. May he lead this Reich into a golden age more golden than the world has ever seen.