As an outstanding naval commander, Marquis Leissard understood the Crown Prince's intentions almost immediately and nodded repeatedly. "The Combined Fleet can muster at least twenty-five Battleships of third-rate or above. That will greatly tie down the British Navy's attention."
He immediately added, "Your Highness, I suggest that, on this basis, the Navy Department could draw up an operation plan for the Combined Fleet to launch a surprise attack on the United Kingdom itself, or carry out large-scale raids on the St. George's Channel shipping route, and then deliberately leak it to British spies."
Indeed, although the English Fleet held a clear advantage in overall strength, the French Navy had one unique advantage of its own: it was comparatively idle.
The United Kingdom depended heavily on maritime trade and also had to maintain its global naval supremacy. As a result, every ship in the British Navy was extremely busy.
If the combined French and Spanish fleet now put on the appearance of being about to do something major, the British would certainly have to dispatch a fleet of similar size to keep a close watch on them.
That would further reduce the number of warships the British Navy could deploy to blockade French and Spanish ports.
Combined with Joseph's plan to disperse shipping among more than thirty ports, it was foreseeable that many ports would have only a few British Frigates patrolling outside them.
A blockade of that scale could not even defeat armed merchant ships sailing together.
Joseph sighed inwardly. People of this era simply had not opened up their thinking yet; otherwise, when it came to being ruthless, they would not be the least bit inferior to military experts of later generations.
He first affirmed the Minister of the Navy's plan, then recalled the matter he cared about most.