Moreno thought that a blockade against Montevideo would not be effective, for the Montevidean naval supremacy over Buenos Aires. He proposed instead to weaken Montevideo by getting the support of the nearby smaller cities and villages. Moreno thought as well that José Gervasio Artigas and José Rondeau would be invaluable allies, and that Buenos Aires should use any resource at its disposal to have them join the fight against absolutism. Once the city was captured, he proposed to confiscate the ships and properties of royalists. All the people that could not prove loyalty to the cause would be banished to the Malvinas or Carmen de Patagones, or drafted in the army for 15 years; the old people would be only banished, but spared from prison or hard works.