Prinz Henry: The Diet will not support a war of aggression, not while we are still fighting three other wars. However, I fear war with France will come soon whether we will it or not.

We must look to our defences - we have three border settlements: Dijon, Bern and Metz. I suggest that we form a Swabian standing army based near Dijon. If we plan our location appropriately, we should be able to support small garrisons in each of the three border settlements. In the event of a French attack, we should be able to repel the French and then persuade the Chancellor to allow us to launch a counterstroke.

Marseilles is a possible target, but I wonder if it will overstretch our lines too much? Rheims seems a more logical choice - if taken, Metz would no longer border France and we would still have three border towns (Rheims, Dijon and Bern) that could be defended by a single standing army. Moreover Rheims is close to Paris, whose capture would be a severe blow to the French, and to the riches of Antwerp and Bruges.

I believe two of us at least should join a Swabian standing army. The third could serve in North Italy if the Chancellor requires. We can alternate command of the army to make sure all have opportunities to distinguish themselves.

We should give thought to the composition of a standing army. I believe a force of around 10 units plus generals would be authorised by a future Chancellor (more might be permitted if war breaks out).

I would suggest:

2 generals
2 knights (mounted sergeants at a pinch)
3 crossbows or archers
5 armoured sergeants

In time, we would aim to replace most of the armoured sergeants with swordsmen - when we have upgraded Staufen sufficiently to train them.