The Dublin Council may have been right: O'Neill bore out its fears by stripping food and horses from the lands bordering the Pale (an area around Dublin traditionally loyal to crown government). The rebel leader then encouraged a rebellion by the White Knight in the southern province of Munster, while O'Donnell moved into the western province of Connacht, with the expectation O'Neill would push south to join with the White Knight. War was in preparation at every point of the compass.