Letter in reply to the Great Officer of the Mongols答蒙古大官人書
右啓。今月某日。忽奉來敎。備詳鈞候動止萬順。欣喜倍常。伹所稱皇帝處廻去文字事。邇來久未審皇帝聖體何似。禮宜伻問起居。況復蒙幕府所諭如此。予亦豈不思奉答天子之休命耶。然年前大軍之辱臨弊境也。我國累次所遣使優及其負擔下卒。輒蒙鈞慈逐旋廻遣前來。故使者之往來駱驛。略無疑懼於心者。是幕府所鑑知也。今聞前所遣皇帝處兩𤳖使人。被寵命將還。適値大軍之方戾弊境。反見勤留未還。又小國聞大軍入境。卽發遣使介。謹行迎犒之禮。而其使人及負擔禮物人卒。至今未蒙放遣廻來。愚聞古者兵交。使在其間。今則異於是。兵交非所意也。小國聞大兵之臨境。猶不敢稽遲。粗以不腆信餉。勞問行李之勤。而反被拘留。其在國人愚惑之心。得不疑且懼哉。然則其遣以大官人奉書于皇帝闕下。愈所疑懼也。伏惟諒之。云云。
I report. On a certain day this month I suddenly received the instructions you sent. Learning in full detail that your bearing in your daily life is everywhere at ease, my joy is twice its ordinary measure.
Only, as to the matter you spoke of, the letter to be sent back to the Emperor, it is thus. Of late we have long failed to inquire how the Emperor's person fares, and by the rites we ought to send men to pay our respects. How much more when your headquarters has sent down instructions like these — how then should I too not think of answering in service to the Son of Heaven's gracious command?
Yet last year, when the great army condescended to come to our borders, the envoys our country sent several times over and the low servants who carried the burdens were each time, by your lofty mercy, sent back then and there. Therefore the coming and going of envoys was unbroken, and in our hearts there was not the least doubt or dread; this your headquarters knows and has seen.
Now I hear that the envoys sent earlier on two occasions to the Emperor received his gracious command and were about to return, but, meeting just the time when the great army reached our borders, were detained instead and cannot come back. And when the small country heard that the great army had entered our borders, it at once sent envoys and reverently performed the rite of welcome and consolation; yet those envoys and the men who carried the gifts have to this day not been released to return.
I have heard that in olden days, though armies were locked together, envoys passed back and forth between them. Now it is not so — and that although the armies are not even locked together. The small country, hearing that the great army had reached our borders, did not dare to delay, but made ready even such poor presents to console the toil of your journey, and was detained instead; how then should the foolish and bewildered hearts of the country's people not doubt and dread? So the matter of sending a Great Officer along to bear a letter up beneath the Emperor's palace is the more a thing of doubt and dread. Prostrate we hope you will weigh it.