In one of the cannon was found thirty thousand gold ducats, which was a great help in paying off his soldiers.
Gustavus greatly admired the magnificent city, which he called "a gold saddle on a bad horse," but felt that he must now push on, for he feared Wallenstein would throw a large part of his army between himself and his base of supplies.
As soon as Wallenstein comprehended that, Bavaria being conquered, Gustavus would march to Vienna, he stirred himself. Gustavus learned that Wallenstein proposed to attack Nuremberg, which had shown the Swedish king such great favor and kindness.
Maximilian entreated Wallenstein to come to his help, and signed papers of allegiance to this upstart general and would-be emperor. Concerning this Wallenstein said: "At last I forced my mortal enemy to implore my pardon and support. I am avenged of all the evil he has done me." Wallenstein now had sixty thousand troops with which to attack Nuremberg, while Gustavus had about twenty thousand with which to oppose him. Gustavus could easily have avoided an engagement and left Nuremberg to the fate of Magdeburg. He preferred to perish with the city rather than expose this Protestant stronghold to the severities of the Imperial army. He threw up entrenchments outside the wall, and placed his soldiers outside the city, so as not to inconvenience the inhabitants.
The citizens came out with shovels and picks and assisted the soldiers, the women came with good food, so that in two weeks they had an entrenchment which would protect almost as well as a wall. In the meantime the authorities were out buying all the provisions possible to put the city in condition to stand a siege. Then the king had his officers organize and train the militia as to best methods of maintaining order, and fitting them to assist in protecting the city. Gustavus said: "Nuremberg is the apple of my eye, and I shall defend it to the best of my ability." The soldiers and citizens were in perfect harmony, and together made preparations to receive the rapidly approaching enemy.
Wallenstein's army did not at once attack the city, but went into an almost impregnable camp on a hill three miles away. Wallenstein said: "Hitherto enough battles have been fought, I shall try another method." He fully expected famine and pestilence to do his work for him in that crowded, besieged city. He did not understand that they were in a degree prepared for siege. On his approach the country people had sold all farm animals to the city, or had used them to transport themselves and families far away.
Gustavus sent out for provisions for his army as long as provender for man or beast could be had; when these supplies could no longer be obtained, the city opened its magazines to the king, while Wallenstein's troops had to travel long distances to obtain subsistence.
Once a long train of wagons was bringing supplies for Wallenstein from Bavaria, and the king, learning of its approach, sent a regiment of cavalry and intercepted the entire cavalcade. The escort was destroyed, twelve thousand cattle and a thousand wagon-loads of bread were brought to camp, and what could not be brought in was destroyed by fire. Wallenstein began to declare that a battle would have cost him less.
The entrenchments of the Swedes now made an attack almost impossible, but the crowded city caused diseases common to the army, the inactivity of soldiers and men began to play havoc with army discipline.
The German troops robbed their countrymen, and Swedish soldiers soon followed their example. Gustavus remonstrated again and again with the German officers; at last, on June 29th, he gave them a berating which they never forgot. He brought them together and said: "Complaint reaches me on all sides about the conduct of our troops in regard to our allies. People complain that the Swedes wage war like the Croats. These reproaches break my heart, especially since I know they are too true. I am innocent of all these disorders; I have always forbidden and punished them severely. It is you yourselves, Germans, who lay waste your native country, ransack your fellow-citizens and drive your co-religionists, whom you have sworn to protect, to despair. As God is my judge, I abhor you; my heart sinks within me, even when I look upon you. You break my orders, you are the cause that the world curses me, that the tears of poverty follow me, that complaints ring in my ears. They say, 'The king, our friend, does us more harm than even Wallenstein, our worst enemy.' If you were true Christians, you would fulfill your duties to your country, to your brethren, and you would remember what I have done for you. It is for you that I have ventured my life and sacrificed my peace. It is for you I have depopulated Sweden, stripped my kingdom of its treasures, and spent upon you four million dollars in gold, while from your German empire I have not received the least aid, not even so much as would buy a miserable doublet. I ask nothing of you, and would prefer to return home poor and naked rather than to clothe and enrich myself at your expense. I gave you a share of all that God had given me, and had you regarded my orders I would gladly have shared with you all my future acquisitions.