Patent of appointment making Bak Munbi Senior General and concurrently Minister of Taxation朴文備上將軍兼戶部尙書官誥
云云。位登上將。威摠禁軍。非唯作朕之爪牙。由嚴警備。抑亦爲邦之藩蔽。直折遐衝。苟非其人。曷勝玆任。某官某。虹盤豪膽。鷹瞵雄姿。自始涉於仕途。未嘗離於內仗。早自蓄經綸之志。豈專爲虎勇之臣。往出守耽羅之舊邦。無奈復黃霸之理最。以爾有當時之遺愛。復令諭玆邑之逆徒。龍節始臨。鴞音旋革。及得補將軍之任。痛欲成蓋代之功。督戎兵而鎭邊。頑戎不敢窺塞。從帥府而征虜。勍敵無與抗衡。跨歷三年。辛勤百戰。俄拜登壇之命。累提杖鉞之權。或迎勞達旦而俾遄復其居。或交好東眞而使一依所敎。南宮司會。恢若有餘。東閣節儀。粲然可覩。朕方柄用。理豈反擠。何忽因無妄之災。久勞于外。是必以登庸之漸。先苦其身。凡再更江郡之喧卑。輒能掃島夷之侵寇。雖居尤宦。尙竭孤忠。天命豈宜久屯。人望不可終棄。故徵以羽林之峻級。復兼玆版籍之巍司。可特授云云。嗚戲。金礱愈精。玉琢更美。由備嘗於險阻。又深得其老成。凡百處心。苟益操於謙柄。在一擧足。卽便躡於台階。祗若予言。同底于道。
And so forth.
When a man's place rises to Senior General, he commands the royal guards with authority. He is not only my claws and teeth, making the watch strict, but also the fence of the state, snapping off at once what stabs at us from afar. Truly, if he is not the right man, how should he bear this charge?
So-and-so, holder of such-and-such office, has a bold gall as though a rainbow hung within him, and a valiant look as though a hawk were glaring. From the time he first entered upon office he has never left the guard within the palace. Early on he heaped up the will to govern and weave the state together — how should he be a subject possessing only the valor of a tiger?
Some time ago he went out to take charge of the old district of Tamna, and there he let us see again the days when Huang Ba's (黃霸) governing was foremost. Because there was the love you left behind at that time, he was again sent to admonish the defiant crowd of that district; and as soon as the dragon banner arrived, the sound that had been like the cry of owls at once changed. After he obtained the charge of a general, he fretted to accomplish merit that would cover an age. He supervised the troops and guarded the frontier, and the fierce barbarians did not dare spy upon our strongholds; he followed the marshal's headquarters and struck the barbarians, and the stubborn enemy had nothing to set against him. For more than three years he toiled hard in a hundred battles.
In time he received the command to mount the platform, and several times held the authority of tally and axe. Now he received envoys and comforted them through the night so that they went back quickly to their places; now he kept good relations with Dongjin (東眞) and had them follow uniformly as they were told. Taking charge of the accounts in the Chancellery for State Affairs, he had ample to spare; and his propriety and bearing in the Eastern Pavilion were bright and worth seeing.
I was just about to give him authority and use him greatly — how in reason should I instead have thrust him away? Yet how did it come about that he met with unlooked-for calamity and long toiled outside? This must be that, as a sign of being greatly used, his person was first made to suffer. Twice he went through the clamorous and lowly posts of riverside districts, and even so he at once swept away the incursions of the island barbarians. Though he held office under censure, he still gave his lonely loyalty in full. How should heaven's command be blocked for long, and how in the end could the hopes of men be slighted?
Therefore he is summoned to the high rank of the Plumed Forest, and is again made to hold concurrently the high post in charge of registers and documents. It may be specially conferred. And so forth.
Ah, iron grows the finer the more it is ground, and jade grows the fairer the more it is cut. Because he has tasted hard places all around, he has also gained their ripening deeply. Whenever you set your mind on all the hundred affairs, if you truly grasp the handle of modesty the more firmly, then in the time it takes to raise a foot you will be treading the steps of a minister of state. Reverently follow my words, and let us reach the Way together.