This is something worked out on the road together with James Morgan. Now, with so few officials left, there’s naturally no need for that complex bureaucratic system. Charles Harris is the governor-general, James Morgan and Robert Bailey are circuit inspectors, which conveniently makes one chief grand secretary and two assistant grand secretaries, each also holding a ministerial post. Peter Reed is reassigned as Minister of War, and his family member, the former Deputy General of Shanhaiguan, Frank Reed, becomes the chief general. I believe they can accept this. William Scott is directly made Grand Commander of the Five Military Commissions, but at this point, there’s no need for five commanders—just restoring the early Ming system of a single Grand Commander will do. As for the previously idle Steven Bennett, he takes over as Chief General of Liaodong.

The Chief General of Liaodong is stationed at Ningyuan. William Scott certainly doesn’t want to go to Ningyuan at this time, so he won’t object to this appointment.

To defend Shanhaiguan, Ningyuan must also be held. Next, they not only have to face Li Zicheng’s massive army, but also Dorgon’s forces. Henry Clark certainly doesn’t expect his so-called loyalist armies to arrive—in fact, he doesn’t believe he’ll get any reinforcements at all. With the quality of the four garrisons north of the Yangtze, breaking through Li Zicheng’s lines is pure nonsense. What he’s prepared for is to rely on the tens of thousands of troops under the two chief generals of Liaodong and Shanhaiguan, plus the more than a hundred thousand civilians who have migrated here, to fight as an isolated force.

For this, he must have enough land to support these people. The plain corridor between Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan is the best choice.

He must hold these two points to the death.

Henry Clark is not worried that his subordinates will surrender to Li Zicheng, because soon news will arrive of Li Zicheng’s looting of the rich in Beijing. But he must resolve the issue of them borrowing troops or even surrendering to the Qing.

This is his biggest headache.

Henry Clark sat upright in his chair, his face deeply contemplative as he looked at the civil and military officials before him, who were expressing their gratitude, pondering how he might set them up.

“Your Majesty, Governor-General of Jizhou and Liaodong, Charles Harris, requests an audience.”

Matthew Turner suddenly came in to report.

“Summon him.”

Henry Clark said.

Charles Harris, travel-worn and dusty, immediately prostrated himself upon entering, weeping and begging forgiveness. He had only learned that Henry Clark had gone to Shanhaiguan after receiving a report from the Jizhou military commissioner, Philip Clark. The distance from Yutian to here was slightly shorter, so although he set out a bit later, he still managed to arrive in time.

“Rise, my loyal subject. Only in a storm is the strength of grass revealed; only in national crisis do true ministers show their loyalty. Your coming brings me great comfort. To be honest, if not for this rebellion, I wouldn’t have realized there were so many traitors at my side. But it has also shown me who the true loyalists are. You are a loyal subject, you are all my loyal subjects, you are all loyal subjects of our Great Ming. From now on, I will rely entirely on you, my beloved ministers. Here, I swear to Heaven: when I return to the palace, wealth and honor will be shared with you all!”

Henry Clark stood up and spoke passionately.

The group of ministers, including Charles Harris, hurriedly expressed their gratitude again. Then the new appointment for Old Harris was announced, and Old Harris again busied himself with giving thanks. Of course, at this point, being chief grand secretary or not hardly mattered—never mind making him a count, even making him a prince would be of little use.

“And what about the Marquis of Pingxi?”

Henry Clark asked.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, the Marquis of Pingxi is leading the army back. However, the movement of tens of thousands of troops is not as swift as my own light travel, so they are expected to arrive tomorrow.”

Charles Harris said.

Henry Clark nodded.

“Earlier, Arthur Morgan proposed borrowing troops to suppress the bandits. What does Arthur Harris think?”

He asked next.

“I await Your Majesty’s wise decision.”

Old Harris said.

“Your Majesty, what if the Manchus take the opportunity to invade?”

Robert Bailey said.

“We can restrict them to only exiting the pass via Zunhua.”

James Morgan said.

“Brother Yuanping, do you really think Dorgon will be so obedient? If he leads his army past Ningyuan and directly threatens the city, and we refuse to open the gates, he’ll just watch as the rebels attack us. When we’re exhausted, we’ll have to beg him to enter. If we open the gates and let him in, can we guarantee he won’t seize Shanhaiguan first? What will we do then? You all underestimate Dorgon.”

Robert Bailey said.

“And what is your opinion?”

Henry Clark asked with interest.

He hadn’t expected such a dissenter. In fact, James Morgan and the others certainly knew this situation could arise, and they knew how to deal with it—just muddle through. If Dorgon really did that, at worst they’d surrender to the Qing, and try to negotiate a better deal for their emperor. As long as their consciences were clear, that was enough. Then, even if Dorgon roasted the emperor a few days later, they’d just shed a few tears. Robert Bailey surely understood this, but he still opposed it, meaning he didn’t want to surrender to the Qing.

“We can borrow troops, but we must be prepared to defend Ningyuan to the death.”

Robert Bailey said.

“The troops at Shanhaiguan are all we have. Even against the rebels, we can’t guarantee victory, so where would we get the men to defend Ningyuan? Besides, Ningyuan must already be in the hands of the Qing. If we want to defend it, we must first retake it. If we’re borrowing troops from them but first provoke a conflict, how can we then borrow troops?”

Charles Harris said.

“To my knowledge, although the Qing have already taken control of Ningyuan, their garrison is small, and they wouldn’t expect our forces to double back. Retaking Ningyuan shouldn’t be too difficult. As for provoking a conflict first, that’s not something we need to worry about.”

Robert Bailey said.