Grenville was taken aback for a moment, frowned, then nodded again: "I would very much like to hear your advice."
William Pitt Junior had evidently pondered this problem for a long time, and immediately said, "Our most pressing matter at the moment is to improve the country's financial situation.
"First, we must reduce expenditures.
"We are spending money all over the world, and now have taken on the burden of Portugal, so we must cut all unnecessary expenses.
"For example, the blockade of the French coast.
"Those battleships consume hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding each month, yet we all know Russian, Danish, American, and even Ottoman smugglers put in at Le Havre every day, unloading large quantities of goods, or transshipping to France from Genoa Port.
"The effectiveness of the blockade is very limited, and at the same time we have antagonized every country trading with France. Especially after the formation of the Maritime Convention Organization.
