Policy Question, the Same as Above同前策問
問。傳曰。文武竝用。長久之道。則自古國家之所不可偏廢者。文武是也。本朝非不厲精於此。而近年已來。軍隊僅虛而不實。儒風極衰而不振者。豈修之之道有所未至耶。將天數使然耶。以士林言之。古者入仕之路甚難。故士必力學而從於科擧者多矣。今則入仕之路甚易。故士不必要科擧。而趨於學者寡矣。其入仕之難易。古今所以不同。何也。其革弊復古之術。又如何而可哉。以軍隊言之。皆各有所受分田。今忽安往而隊伍之不充耶。必散歸其田所在。若有司考而逼還。則獨飢寒無援者至焉。顧役苦食乏。則不慮後患。逃還者衆矣。古當不爾。而今之至是。其故何也。豈內外有司不能追考而一一懲之耶。其考之懲之之術。亦安在哉。諸生宜悉言之無諱也。
The question is asked. The commentaries (傳) say, 「To use letters and arms together is the way that lasts long」; and from of old what a state cannot lean to one side and cast away is letters and arms. It is not that our court has not given its whole mind to this; yet these few years past the army is all but empty and does not fill out, and the spirit of the scholars is sorely withered and does not rouse itself. Is this because there is something the way of cultivation has not reached, or is it the turning of Heaven's fortune that has made it so?
To speak of the scholars: in old times the way into office was very hard, and so there were many scholars who studied with all their strength and pursued the examinations. Now the way into office is very easy, and so scholars do not press after the examinations, and few of them go forward in learning. Why is the hardness and the easiness of entering office so different in old times and in the present? And what is to be done to mend that abuse and return to the old way?
To speak of the army: every man of them has his allotted portion of field. Where have they suddenly gone, that the ranks do not fill out? Surely they have scattered back to where their fields are; and if the offices in charge look into it and press them to return, then only those come who are hungry and bare and have none to lean upon. Looking at it, when the labor service is harsh and food is short, there are many who take no reckoning of the trouble to come and run back home. In old times it surely was not so; what is the reason that it has come to this now? Can it be that the offices in charge within and without cannot pursue and look into it and punish them one by one? And where, again, does the way of looking into it and punishing lie?
You scholars, speak it all out and do not hold back.
Interlinear notes 1
次望不行
The second one submitted was not used.