Wellington was expecting an attack by way of Lille and Courtrai, and always regarded this direction as Napoleon’s best move. For his army was based on Ostend, Antwerp, and the sea; hence, had Napoleon attacked by way of Mons, he would have cut Wellington’s communications, and forced him to evacuate Brussels. On the other hand, he would have driven the English army towards the Prussians. Wellington’s dispositions were eminently suited to rapid concentration on threatened points, while, at the same time, they were sufficiently scattered to make the subsistence of the troops possible. He had selected Oudenarde, Ath, Enghien, Soignies, Nivelles, and Quatre-Bras as points of interior concentration; and in this way, by whichever route Napoleon chose to attack, Wellington could bring his Reserve to the threatened point, and at the same time bring the remainder of his forces into concentration, enabling him to throw at least two-thirds of his whole force in front of the enemy within twenty-four hours. Blucher’s army, 116,000 strong, was divided into four Corps. The First Corps, under Zieten, had its headquarters at Charleroi; and its outposts stretched from Bonne Espérance through Lobbes, Thuin and Gerpinnes to Sossoye. Its right was in touch with the left of the Prince of Orange’s Corps of Wellington’s army. The Second Corps, under Pirch I., had its headquarters at Namur. Its Divisions were stationed in Thorembey les Beguignes, Heron, Huy and Hannut. Its outposts stretched from Sossoye to Dinant. The Third Corps, under Thielemann, whose headquarters were at Ciney, had its Divisions stationed at Asserre, Ciney, Dinant and Huy. Its outposts extended from Dinant to Rochefort. The Fourth Corps, Bulow’s, had its headquarters at Liège: its Divisions were stationed at Warème, Hologne, Liers, Tongres and Lootz. Bluchers scheme of concentration enabled him to collect his four Corps together at their respective points of assembly--Fleurus, Namur, Ciney and Liège, within twelve hours. If the French crossed the Sambre at Charleroi, Blucher intended to concentrate his army in front of Sombreffe, on the Namur-Nivelles road, where he would be within 8 miles of Quatre-Bras, Wellington’s point of concentration under those circumstances. If Napoleon moved along the Meuse towards Namur, the First, Second and Fourth Corps were to concentrate on Namur, while Thielemann’s Corps, the Third, acting from Ciney, would attack the enemy’s right flank. If, again, Napoleon advanced on Ciney, Zieten, Pirch I. and Thielemann were to concentrate their Corps on Ciney, and the Fourth Corps was to remain at Liège as a Reserve.