Tomb Inscription for the Late Master Yi, Grand Master of Court Counsel, Chief Minister of the Office of Provisions, Right Grand Master of Remonstrance, Auxiliary Academician of the Bomun Pavilion and Drafter of Royal Edicts, Granted the Purple and Gold Fish-Pouch故朝議大夫司宰卿右諫議大夫寶文閣直學士知制誥賜紫金魚袋李君墓誌銘
君諱世華。字居實。系出眞州。考諱某。檢校大將軍。母海陽郡夫人金氏。某官諱某之女也。君方妙齡。父雖將官。知其性穎悟必自達。早令從學。由是力學工屬文。越戊午春。赴成均試中之。至壬戌。擧春場擢丙第。貞廟朝。籍茶房。俄以公事免。後復籍內侍。會康廟崩。隨例見免。君不經外寄得祿仕。除見州監牧。丙子歲。遷補都兵馬錄事。丁丑秋。出爲定戎分道。爲元帥趙公所器。及見替。公表留幕下。委以事甚重之。公還朝力薦。除大盈置承。庚辰春。出爲白翎鎭將。理邑廉平。此郡舊無鄕校。君首創之。集吏人子弟敎以學。不數年。皆得成其才。至有應貢擧者。一郡慕之。屢騰狀褒美。秩滿。除神虎衛錄事。俄復兼都兵馬。因累歷內園署令祕書郞。甲申夏。遷中書注書。其冬。拜右正言知制誥。俄遷殿中侍御史。賜緋魚袋。未幾遷右司諫知制誥。丁亥春。出守南原府。明年。移守東州。又以理最聞。庚寅春。以侍御史金紫見詔。明年秋。出按慶尙州道。會蒙古大寇邊。五道廉按使皆領兵赴援。君促理兵。先諸道赴期。又持軍如宿將。聞者韙之。壬辰。除拜禮賓少卿御史雜端。是夏。國家因虜寇將遷都。以廣州迺中道巨鎭。朝論揀汰。遣公出刺。冬十一月。蒙古大兵來圍數十重。以百計攻之至數月。公日夜繕守備。隨機應變。出其意表。或俘殺甚衆。虜知不可。遂解圍去。州當南路要會。此城陷則餘可知已。微君幾殆矣。昔張巡之守睢陽也。雖義烈有足嘉者。猶未免身死城陷矣。君能守之以死。而廻之生地。卒得身保城完。全活萬人。則功烈可謂優矣。時皆以爲亟被寵見喚。而猶留三年者。朝議豈以公有守禦之能。而重易其人耶。乙未冬。以朝散大夫禮部侍郞右諫議大夫寶文閣直學士知制誥徵還。蓋賞功也。俄遷吏部侍郞。仍諫議。丁酉夏。又出鎭淸州山城。公旣閑於守禦。蒙兵竟不敢犯。冬。拜朝議大夫司宰卿。仍諫議。戊戌仲秋望。在家召子壻等。翫月飮酒。從容甚樂。方擧杯忽仆不起。至曙而逝。嗚呼異哉。何其大速也如此。公爲人偉儀表。資沈遂確實。旣以文鳴世。又吏幹虎略。皆所游刃。是可謂全才者。然未相而卒。玆非命歟。先娶禮賓少卿許京女。卒。再醮興威衛將軍薛某女。凡生男三人女六人。男曰守眞。南原府通判。曰守年。安慶府錄事。曰守深。未冠。女一適堂後官柳卿老。次適某官。次適某官某。三女尙幼。其葬也。子守年壻卿老等具行狀。求予爲銘。圖有以不朽者。予亦嘗與君有舊。理難可辭。遂銘之曰。
The master's given name was Sehwa (世華) and his style name Geosil (居實), and his line came out of Jinju (眞州). His father's given name was so-and-so, a Supernumerary General, and his mother was Lady Kim, District Dame of Haeyang, the daughter of so-and-so of such an office.
When the master was still very young, his father, though a military officer, saw that his nature was outstanding and quick and knew that he would surely make something of himself, and so had him take up learning early. By this he studied hard and wrote well. In the spring of the muo year he sat the Seonggyun examination and passed, and by the imsul year he sat the spring examination and was chosen in the third class.
At the court of Jeongmyo (貞廟) he was enrolled in the Tea Office (茶房), and before long was dismissed over a matter of official business. Afterward he was enrolled again in the Office of Royal Attendants (內侍院), but just then Gangmyo (康廟) passed away and he was dismissed according to precedent. Without passing through any outer district, the master obtained a salaried office and was appointed Supervisor of Gyeonju (見州). In the byeongja year he was transferred to Recorder of the Directorate of Military Affairs, and in the autumn of the jeongchuk year he went out as Circuit Deputy of Jeongyung (定戎), where the marshal, His Excellency Jo (趙公), reckoned him a man of parts. When his term came round to be changed, His Excellency submitted a memorial to keep him on his headquarters staff and gave him charge of affairs, holding him in great weight. When His Excellency returned to court he recommended him strongly, and he was appointed Aide of the Daeyeong (大盈) Treasury.
In the spring of the gyeongjin year he went out as garrison commander of Baengnyeong Garrison (白翎鎭), where his government of the district was clean and even. This district had from of old had no district school, and the master was the first to found one, gathering the sons of the clerks and teaching them learning. Within a few years they had all made something of their talents, and there were even some who sat the examinations; so the whole district held him in regard and submitted memorials praising him several times.
His term being full, he was appointed Recorder of the Divine Tiger Guard, and before long again held the Directorate of Military Affairs concurrently. Thereafter he passed through several posts, Director of the Office of Inner Gardens and Gentleman of the Palace Library. In the summer of the gapsin year he moved to Secretary of the Chancellery, and in the winter of that year was appointed Right Rectifier of Speech and Drafter of Royal Edicts; before long he moved to Palace Attendant Censor and received the crimson fish-pouch. Not long after he moved to Right Remonstrance Counselor and Drafter of Royal Edicts. In the spring of the jeonghae year he went out to govern Namwon Prefecture, and the next year moved to govern Dongju (東州), where again his government was renowned as first among all.
In the spring of the gyeongin year, as Attendant Censor, he wore the gold and purple and was called by edict. In the autumn of the next year he went out to inspect the Gyeongsangju Circuit. Just then the Mongols plundered the frontier on a great scale, and the inspectors of all five circuits led out troops to the rescue. The master urged his troops into order and arrived at the appointed time ahead of the other circuits; and he handled troops like a seasoned general, so that those who heard of it thought it right.
In the imjin year he was appointed Vice Minister of the Office of Guest Ritual and Miscellaneous Director of the Censorate. In the summer of that year the state meant to move the capital because of the plundering of the barbarians; and as Gwangju (廣州) was the great garrison of the middle road, the deliberation of the court picked a man out and sent His Excellency to go and govern it.
In the eleventh month of winter a great Mongol army came, ringed the place about in tens of layers, and attacked it for months on end with every stratagem. His Excellency night and day put the defenses in order, met them as the shape of each moment required, and came out where the enemy did not look for him, so that those taken and killed were very many. The barbarians, knowing it could not be done, at length lifted the siege and went.
This district is the strategic key of the southern road; had this fortress fallen, the rest may be guessed. Had it not been for the master, it would have been close to peril. Of old, Zhang Xun's (張巡) defense of Suiyang (睢陽) is to be praised for its righteous and steadfast integrity, yet even so he did not escape dying himself and seeing the fortress fall. The master held the place as if to die, and yet turned it into ground where men lived, so that in the end he kept his body and preserved the fortress whole and brought ten thousand people all through alive; his merit may well be called ample. At that time everyone thought he would at once be favored and summoned in, and yet he stayed three years; was the deliberation of the court not that, since His Excellency had a talent for holding and blocking, it was hard to change the man?
In the winter of the eulmi year he was called back as Grand Master of Court Audience, Vice Minister of Rites, Right Grand Master of Remonstrance, Auxiliary Academician of the Bomun Pavilion and Drafter of Royal Edicts, which in the main was a reward for his merit. Before long he moved to Vice Minister of Personnel, the remonstrance post being left as it was. In the summer of the jeongyu year he went out again to hold the mountain fortress of Cheongju (淸州). As His Excellency was already practiced in holding and blocking, the Mongol troops in the end did not dare encroach. In the winter he was appointed Grand Master of Court Counsel and Chief Minister of the Office of Provisions, the remonstrance post remaining as it was.
On the full moon of Hangawi in the musul year he called his sons and sons-in-law at home, and they enjoyed the moon and drank; it was quiet and most pleasant. Just as he raised the cup he suddenly collapsed and could not rise, and by dawn he had left the world. Ah, how strange. How could it be so swift?
His Excellency's character was open and tall in bearing, and his substance settled, firm and true. He had already sounded through the world with his writing, and besides had both an official's deftness and a tiger's strategy, and he wielded them all as one plays a blade; this indeed may be called a whole talent. Yet he died without reaching the office of chief minister; is this not fate?
He first married the daughter of Heo Gyeong (許京), Vice Minister of the Office of Guest Ritual, and she died; he then married the daughter of General Seol (薛) of the Heungwi Guard. In all he had three sons and six daughters. His son Sujin (守眞) is Administrative Aide of Namwon Prefecture; Sunyeon (守年) is Recorder of Angyeong Prefecture; and Susim (守深) has not yet taken the cap. One daughter married Yu Gyeongno (柳卿老), Registrar of the Chancellery, the next married such an officer, and the next so-and-so of such an office; the three daughters are still young.
At the burial, his son Sunyeon and his son-in-law Gyeongno and the others put together an account of his life and asked me to compose an inscription (銘) for them, planning that it should not rot away. I too had long had an old bond with the master, and in reason it was hard to decline. At length I have composed an inscription, which says:
Interlinear notes 1
幷序
With the preface.
南紀曰廣。衝要是扼。帝所倚重。如護全國。時惟我公。出作方伯。方虜之圍。寄命不測。能以氣壓。談笑却敵。橫身濟難。顯烈如此。全活萬人。陰德若彼。物論僉騰。期以三事。計級而升。亦跬步耳。天不少借。奄若朝露。糾纏紛軋。孰詰其故。爛然功名。暉映千古。刻銘區區。大鵬一羽。
The mainstay that braces the south is called Gwangju, and the strategic key is blocked at this place. The weight the sovereign laid upon it in his reliance was as the guarding of the whole country. At that time it was our lord alone who went out and became the elder of a region. When the barbarians ringed him round, he put his life where it could not be reckoned. He bore them down by his spirit, and talking and laughing drove the enemy off. He threw in his body and brought us out of hardship, and the merit he showed was such as this. He brought ten thousand people all through alive, and the virtue he piled up unseen was such as that. The talk of the many was all lofty, and looked for him to hold the seat of the Three Dukes. As for rising by the count of his grades, that was no more than half a step. Heaven did not lend him the least while, and of a sudden he was as the morning dew. Tangled and snarled, it creaks in confusion; who shall inquire into the reason of it? His dazzling merit and his name will shine their light a thousand ages. The inscription I have cut is a poor small thing, no more than one feather of the great roc.