Speaking of which, the reason our Mr. Harrison paid attention to the memorials from these two people was, for the former, because the name sounded pleasant and the official rank was high (having just resigned as Academician of the Zizheng Hall and Right Vice Minister of the Department of State Affairs). More importantly, the mechanical memory of John Harrison's body was still intact, allowing him to understand the writing within, so he immediately noticed the excellent prose and gentle tone, and thus naturally took note; as for the latter, it was because Mr. Harrison's knowledge of history was rather poor, and at first he mistook this censor for another famous figure of the era, Grand Commandant Zhang Jun... However, that Grand Commandant Zhang is already over forty, and long ago became Commander of the Imperial Army's Rear Division, enjoying great prestige in the military. Including Charles Young, about thirty percent of the Imperial Guards before the throne came from under this Grand Commandant's command, and he is still out suppressing bandits and has not yet returned, which Mr. Harrison also knew. So after looking for a while, Mr. Harrison could not help but realize he had mistaken the person and made a muddle-headed error.

Returning to the present, even Mr. Harrison, no matter how foolish, knew that since these memorials had been delivered to him, he could not expect those submitting them to hold any particularly positive stance.

It made sense upon reflection.

First, everyone here at the mobile court was a true fugitive from a fallen nation, living in objectively difficult conditions, and many were indeed dispirited and lacked the will to fight; second, during the previous struggles in Nanjing, there had already been a sense of purging the pro-war faction.

In such circumstances, even if there were pro-war officials, it would likely take time to dispel their doubts before they would dare to show themselves.

But regardless, in late August, as the weather began to clear, aside from that muddled attempt to calm the people the day after emerging from the well, after spending a little over ten days in this era, John Harrison met for the first time, in the identity of Mr. Harrison, with two high-ranking ministers of the mobile court, finally breaking through the previous barrier of five close attendants.

The two sides met in the rear hall, with Henry Carter and Charles Young attending. After the formalities and greetings, everything proceeded calmly. Naturally, Arthur Lee, as Academician of the Zizheng Hall and with experience as Minister of War and Right Vice Minister, was the first to respond, but he began with some miscellaneous small talk.

It must be understood that this small talk, though seemingly trivial, was actually necessary.

Since Mr. Harrison fell into the well, he had rarely interacted with outside ministers under the pretext of recuperating, and now, suddenly requesting the civil and military officials of the mobile court to submit memorials discussing the defense of the Central Plains, had given rise to rumors that Mr. Harrison's head injury had caused him to forget some matters. Therefore, Arthur Lee's visit clearly carried the political task of observing Mr. Harrison's physical condition on behalf of the other ministers. Mr. Harrison needed to interact with the ministers to regain power, while the ministers, for their part, had to at least roughly verify the legitimacy of this emperor.

Given the current situation, could anyone really expect a Song Emperor Hui? Of course, if it truly came to that, there would be nothing to be done.

Fortunately, Mr. Harrison spoke clearly, his words were fluent, and his demeanor composed. After a round of small talk, at least in the rear hall, Scholar Lee was completely reassured—this Mr. Harrison was certainly not a fool!

At this point, John Harrison also learned some background about Arthur Lee: his "daoxue" was not the Daoism of this Mingdao Palace, but rather the famous Confucian Neo-Confucianism of history. Moreover, Arthur Lee came from a renowned family: his great-great-uncle Stephen Lee, great-grandfather Edward Lee, and grandfather Mr. Lee were all Grand Chancellors.

At the same time, John Harrison also understood why Henry Carter had confidently recommended this person to meet him: it was because this man had previously resigned as Right Vice Minister (Deputy Prime Minister) due to Abraham Thompson's suppression of the exiled ministers from the Eastern Capital. This man had participated in Philip Scott's puppet regime in the Eastern Capital Bianliang, but was also the first to persuade Philip Scott to return the throne.

However, it was clear that this Neo-Confucian gentleman was very different from the type John Harrison had imagined. He was gentle and refined, answered every question, yet neither took the opportunity to attack Abraham Thompson nor spoke much of the policies of Huang and Wang, but, just as in his memorial, gently advised John Harrison to act within his means.

Through this, John Harrison also learned a few more hidden truths.

"I see that many memorials say there are no troops in the north. Is it true that there are no soldiers in Hebei and the Central Plains?"

"In fact, there are soldiers, but most are disorderly troops or militias. Even if recruited, they cannot withstand a single field battle against the Jin." Arthur Lee replied frankly. "The people of Hebei have suffered greatly under the Jin, and many are eager to fight, but they lack weapons and armor, so they can only rely on guerrilla warfare in the mountains and fields. The Central Plains are full of disorderly armies, numerous and even equipped, but most are former imperial troops who fled from the Jin on the battlefield, and they dare not fight the Jin, instead only causing trouble locally... If not for this, with Joseph Thompson's willingness to fight, he would not have let Mr. Harrison travel to Nanyang. Going to Nanyang was in hopes of linking up with the northwest and bringing the two hundred thousand Western Army troops under control."

"I understand," John Harrison sighed softly. This matched what he knew and was likely the truth. "If we truly want to resist the Jin, first we need the financial resources of Jiangnan and Bashu, second we need the troops of the northwest, and third we need to slowly restore morale everywhere. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"You advise me to go to Yangzhou because it is the starting point of the Grand Canal, the hub for the collection and transport of southeastern revenues, and you mean to use it as a base to slowly plan our next moves?"

"Yes."

"But if I head south, how can the Central Plains be defended?"

"Leave the defense of the Eastern Capital to a member of the imperial clan, and send a great general to the area of Mount Tai and Yishui..."