Letter submitted to the Emperor, as above同前狀
臣某。謹頓首再拜。奉書于皇帝紫微闕下。臣以一二所望事件。已具表言之。楢有鬱結於心。未盡陳露者。於表內不得備載。申以狀陳布之。辭義繁宂。恐煩聰鑑。誠恐誠恐。伏惟聖慈一賜覽焉。弊邑。本海外之小邦也。自歷世已來。必行事大之禮。然後能保有其國家。故頃嘗臣事于大金。及金國鼎逸。然後朝貢之禮始廢矣。越丙子歲。契丹大擧兵。闌入我境。橫行肆暴。至己卯。我大國遣帥河稱，扎臘。領兵來救。一掃其類。小國以蒙賜不貲。講投拜之禮。遂向天盟告。以萬世和好爲約。因請歲進貢賦所便。元帥曰。塗路甚梗。你國必難於來往。每年我國遣使優不過十人。其來也可齎持以去。至則道必取萬奴之地境。你以此爲驗。其後優使之來。一如所約。每我國輒付以國信禮物。輸進闕下。獨於甲申年。使臣著古與。不以萬奴之境。而從婆速路來焉。然依舊接遇甚謹。又付以國信前去。其後使介之來者。稍至間闊。小國竊怪其故。久而聞之。則于加下遮出中路。殺了上件使臣所致也。如此已後。于加下僞作上國服樣。入我北鄙。殘敗三城。萬奴亦攻破東鄙二城。其服色亦如之。自是踵來侵伐不絶。又萬奴與上國使優之向我國者。紿言高麗皆你國。愼勿前去。使優不聽。且欲知眞僞。遂便行李。則先遣其麾下人。僞爲我國服着及弓箭。遂伏兵於兩國山谷之間。潛候行李。出射趁𪵃。因令伴行人報云。高麗所作如此。背逆明矣。請停前去。固令還焉。然適有自萬奴麾下逃來王好非者。細說其事。故我國得知之。無幾何。聞大兵入境。小國以通好之故。殊不意上國之兵。而久乃知之。然莫識所以行兵之故。帥府沙里打大官人移文言。你國殺我使臣著古與及射東路使臣。何也。以此行兵聞罪耳。我國以曾知之縷細故。具以實對之。更行投拜之禮。大軍亦詳兩人所詐。豁然大寤。遂許班師矣。方大軍之還國。尋遣兩𤳖行李。奉進國信禮物於皇帝闕下。而君臣因相賀曰。比來以道路不通。阻修朝貢之禮。大乖從前和好之本意。常以此爲慮。今旣遣使達誠。則是固可賀。而又大國常以于加下萬奴之罪歸于我。我國無以自明。懼代他人受誣。而賴大軍親臨根究。使上國之疑渙然如氷釋。則吾屬知免矣。始可以寧心定慮。一專於奉事上朝之日也。未幾。忽有宋立章者從池義深行李。詣在上國。逃來言上國將擧大兵來討。已有約束。百姓聞之。驚駭顚蹶。其逃閃者多矣。俄又聞北界一二城逆民等。妄諭其城達花赤。殺戮平民。又殺臣所遣內臣。此人是候上國使優。値行李則迎到京師者也。而乃殺之。因以作亂。聲言大國兵馬來也。又聞上國使優到義州。令準備大船一千艘。待涉軍馬。於是擧上下無不震悸。其逃之者又過半矣。逋戶殘廬。歷歷相望。鞠爲茂草。見之不能無悵然矣。君臣竊自謀曰。若遺民盡散。則邦本空矣。邦本空則其將與誰歲辦貢賦。以事上朝耶。不若趁此時收合殘民餘衆。入處山海之間。粗以不腆土物。奉事上國。不失藩臣之名。上計也。蓋以心之所屬。不關於地。苟以一心事之。想上國何必以此爲咎耶。於是遂定計焉。然則我國之遷徙于此。不過此意耳。寧有他心哉。天地神明。實鑑之矣。不意大國以浮說所傳。遣之以大兵。臨莅弊境。凡所經由。無老弱婦女。皆殺之無赦。故擧一國喪精失氣。顚到怖懼。莫有聊生之意。且君是天也父母也。方殷憂大戚如此。而不於天與父母。而又於何處訴之耶。伏望皇帝陛下。推天地父母之慈。諒小邦靡他之意。勅令大軍廻轅返斾。永護小國。則臣更努力竭誠。歲輸土物。用表丹悃。益祝皇帝千萬歲壽。是臣之志也。伏惟陛下少加憐焉。無任望大延佇希恩慕德之至。謹奉狀陳乞以聞。謹狀。
I, your servant so-and-so, reverently bowing my head and prostrating myself twice, submit this letter beneath the Purple Tenuity (紫微) palace of the Emperor.
The one or two things I would ask have already been fully reported in my memorial. Yet there is something knotted in my heart that I could not set out in full, and that could not be included in the memorial. So I report and set it out again in a letter. I am truly afraid that the words and the sense, being prolix, will trouble your enlightened scrutiny. I beg that your holy affection may look upon it once.
Our district has always been a small country beyond the sea. Passing through several generations, we could keep our country only after performing the rites of serving a great country. Therefore in days past we served Great Jin (大金) as vassals, and only after Jin had declined and scattered did the rite of paying tribute come to a stop.
In the year Byeongja (丙子) the Khitan raised a great army and entered our territory at will, roaming as they pleased and behaving savagely. When the year Gimyo (己卯) came, the great country sent the generals Hacing (河稱) and Chalap (扎臘), who came leading troops to rescue us, and swept away that host at a stroke. The small country, having received a kindness beyond measure, made ready the rite of submission, and at last swore toward heaven, pledging good relations for ten thousand generations. Thereupon we asked for a convenient road by which to send tribute year by year.
The marshal said: "The road is severely blocked, and it will be hard for your country to come and go. Each year the envoys our country sends are no more than ten men; when they come, let them carry it with them. In coming they must pass through the land of Manno (萬奴), and you shall take this as your proof."
Thereafter the coming of the envoys was exactly as agreed. Our country each time sent the country's gifts with them and offered them beneath the palace. Only in the year Gapsin (甲申) did the envoy Jeogoyeo (著古與) alone come by way of Paseongno (婆速路) and not through Manno's land. Yet we received him with the same great care as before, and again sent the country's gifts with him.
After that the coming of envoys grew gradually rarer, and the small country quietly wondered at the cause. In time we heard that it was because U Gaha (于加下) had blocked the middle of the road and killed those envoys. Thereafter U Gaha falsely got himself up in the dress of the great country, entered our northern border, and tore down three fortresses. Manno too attacked and broke two fortresses on the eastern border, and his dress was the same. From this time they came one after another and did not cease their raiding.
Manno moreover lied to the great country's envoys who were coming to our country, saying, "Goryeo has revolted against your country; by all means do not go." The envoys would not listen, and wishing also to learn whether it was true or false, set out on the road at once. Then Manno first sent his own subordinates and had them falsely got up in our country's dress with bows and arrows, and at last hid troops in a mountain valley between the two countries to spy out the envoys in secret and then come out shooting and give chase. Thereupon he had the men who went along with them announce, "What Goryeo has done is like this, so the revolt is plain. We beg you to go no further," and so made them turn back by force. But it happened that a man named Wang Hobi (王好非), who had fled to us from Manno's service, told the matter in detail, and so our country came to know it.
Not long after, we heard that a great army had entered our borders. The small country, being on good terms, hardly supposed it could be the great country's army, and only after some time did we know. Yet we did not know the reason the army had been sent. The Great Officer Sartai (沙里打) of the marshal's headquarters sent a letter saying, "Your country killed our envoy Jeogoyeo and shot at the envoys of the eastern road. What is the meaning of this? For this reason the army has been sent to question your guilt." Our country had already known the inward particulars of it, and so answered fully with the facts and performed again the rite of submission. The great army too came to know in detail the deceit of the two men, and awakening to it clearly and greatly, at last consented to turn the army back.
When the great army withdrew, we at once sent envoys twice over to bear the country's gifts and offer them beneath the Emperor's palace. The ruler and his officers congratulated one another, saying: "Of late the road has been blocked and we could not keep up the rite of tribute, which went greatly against our former intent of good relations, and we were always troubled by it. Now we have sent envoys and conveyed our sincerity, and this is truly to be congratulated. Moreover the great country has always laid the guilt of U Gaha and Manno upon us, and our country had no way to clear itself; we feared we should bear another's slander in his place. But thanks to the great army's coming in person and probing it out, the great country's doubt has melted clear away like ice, and we know that we are now free of it. This is the day when for the first time we may set our hearts at rest and fix our thoughts and give ourselves wholly to serving the Imperial court."
Not long after, a man named Song Ipjang (宋立章) suddenly came fleeing to us. He had gone to the great country in the train of Ji Uisim (池義深)'s embassy, and he said that it had already been agreed that the great country would raise a great army and come to attack. The people, hearing it, were struck down with alarm, and many fled. Presently we heard too that the rebellious people of one or two fortresses on the northern border had wantonly enticed the darughachi of those fortresses and killed the people. They also killed the inner official (內臣) whom I had sent. This was the man who was to wait for the great country's envoys and, on meeting the embassy, welcome it and escort it to the capital; him they killed, and thereupon raised a disturbance and spread the cry that the great country's army was coming. We heard also that the great country's envoys had reached Uiju (義州) and had a thousand great ships made ready to await the army's crossing. At this, high and low alike trembled in dread, and those who fled were again more than half. Abandoned houses and broken huts stood plainly in sight of one another, overgrown with weeds, and seeing it one could not but be grieved.
The ruler and his officers quietly took counsel with themselves: "If the people who remain all scatter, the substance of the country is empty. If the substance of the country is empty, with whom shall we make ready the yearly tribute and serve the Imperial court? Nothing is better than to seize this moment and gather the remaining people, go in among the hills and the sea and live there, and with even such poor native produce uphold and serve the great country, so as not to lose the name of a vassal of the hedge; this is the highest plan." For where the heart is fixed has nothing to do with the ground: if we truly serve with one mind, we held, how should the great country make a fault of this? And so at last the plan was settled.
Our country's moving here, then, goes no further than this intent; how should there be any other heart in it? The spirits of heaven and earth will surely look down and see.
Beyond all expectation, the great country has followed a floating rumour and sent a great army that has reached our borders. Wherever it passes, old and weak and women are not distinguished but all are killed without pardon. Therefore the whole country has lost its wits and its strength has failed; they are struck down with dread and have no will to live. Moreover the sovereign is heaven, and is father and mother. When deep anxiety and great grief are such as this, if not to heaven and to father and mother, where else should we make our plea?
Prostrate we hope that Your Imperial Majesty will extend the affection of heaven and earth and of a father and mother, and consider that the small country has no other heart. Command the great army to turn its carriages and reverse its banners, and keep the small country long. If you do so, then your servant will again strive with all sincerity, offering native produce year by year to show forth his crimson heart, and will the more pray that Your Majesty live ten million years. This is your servant's intent. I beg that Your Majesty may take even a little pity.
My longing and waiting are great, and my heart in hoping for your favour and yearning for your virtue is utmost beyond measure. Reverently bearing up this letter I report and make my request. Reverently I report.
Interlinear notes 1
高麗皆你國 — the base text has no character 叛. Following 高麗皆叛你國 in another edition, this is rendered "has revolted against." — Translator