Joseph was dissatisfied with Napoleon’s plans, and preferred his own. The disposable troops at his command, exclusive of those in Bilbao, were fifty thousand; these he distributed as follows. The right wing occupied Burgos, Pancorbo, and Puente Lara. The centre was posted between Haro and Logroña; the left extended from Logroña to Tudela; the latter town was not occupied. He contended that this arrangement, at once offensive and defensive, might be advantageously continued, if the great army directed upon Spain arrived in September, since it tended to refit the army already there, and menaced the enemy; but that it could not be prolonged until November, because in three months the Spaniards must make a great progress, and would very soon be in a state to take the offensive with grand organized corps, obedient to a central administration, which would have time to form in Madrid. Every thing announced, he said, that the month of October was one of those decisive epochs which gave to the party who knew how to profit from it, the priority of movements and success, the progress of which it was difficult to calculate. In this view of affairs, the merits of six projects were discussed by the king. First. To remain in the actual position. This was declared to be unsustainable, because the enemy could attack the left with forty thousand, the centre with forty thousand, the right with as many. Tudela and Navarre, as far as Logroña, required twenty-five thousand men to defend them. Burgos could not be defended but by an army in a state to resist the united forces of Blake and Cuesta, which would amount to eighty thousand men, and it was doubtful if the twenty thousand bayonets which could be opposed, could completely beat them; if they did not, the French would be harassed by the insurgents of the three provinces (Biscay, Navarre, and Guipuscoa), who would interpose between the left wing and France. Second project. To carry the centre and reserve by Tudela, towards Zaragoza or Almazan; united with the left, they would amount to thirty thousand men, who might seek for, and, doubtless, would defeat the enemy, if he was met with on that side. In the meantime, the right wing, leaving garrisons in the citadel of Burgos and the fort of Pancorbo, could occupy the enemy, and watch any movements in the Montagna St. Ander, or disembarkations that might take place at the ports; but this task was considered difficult, because Pancorbo was not the only defile accessible to artillery. Three leagues from thence, another road led upon Miranda, and there was a third passage over the point of the chain which stretched between Haro and Miranda.