Imperial Diet

[TinCow]

*Maximillian Mansdorf shakes his head slowly at the Fourth Elector of Swabia*

Our armies would have to lower themselves to the barbaric practices of sacking cities?! Sir, have you ever even spent a day in an army? Honor and glory may be wonderful things, to be sure, but they are never enough to feed 5,000 hungry men. We can expect chivalrous and selfless behavior from noble generals, but what of the common man-at-arms and the levies that make up the vast majority of our forces?

You must understand reality, sir, and reality is that men rarely take up arms when their lives are not threatened unless there is the possibility of substantial benefit for themselves and their families. Yes, we pay our soldiers, but it is a pittance in comparison to what they expect to reap from their fallen enemies. Certainly it is wrong to massacre good Christian civilians for no reason, but what harm is there in appropriating the wealth of an enemy city on its conquest? To consistently deny the sack of enemy cities is to court desertion and mutiny.

Calling the practice of sacking barbaric is a direct insult to many of the noble men who stand with us in this very room! That includes our glorious Kaiser Heinrich. I know you do not need a history lesson, but it has been less than 10 years since the Kaiser sacked the Saxon lands of the previous Duke of Bavaria for fomenting rebellion. Are you calling the Kaiser a barbarian for this act?