Pillaging is when an army enters an area and attempts to steal as much as it can. This takes from 8-20 days. The impact of the pillage depends on how many soldiers per 1,000 population of the fief are pillaging. One soldier or less per 1,000 populations only reduces Fief Loyalty 1%, takes 1% of the GDP and reduces taxes available by 1%. There is no population loss. If you have 500 or more soldiers per 1,000 population, the Fief loyalty goes down 22%, 16% of GDP is taken, all taxes are lost that season and 3.2% of the population is killed. You can always hit the jackpot . The local garrison will try to resist, and prevent the pillage. The chance of this happening depends on the stats of the Bailiff, the keep level and population of the fief. Up to 49% of the available troops can be assembled, and they have a maximum 57% chance of catching the pillagers. A battle can result, and the pillagers can be defeated and ejected. Auto-bailiff has a rating of 3, whereas a bailiff with leadership and management of 9, plus 3-4 Stature and 30 or more keep level, would get a maximum chance to resist. Be careful in megafiefs with good bailiffs. If a pillage is successful, the army leader gets to keep 5% of the loot taken for each point of stature he has (up to 45% for 9 stature).