Book One卷一

About the Byeongsul year of Wanli (萬曆), Tachibana Yasuhiro (橘康廣), an envoy of the country of Japan, came bearing a letter from Hira Hideyoshi (平秀吉), the king of that country.

At the first the Minamoto (源氏), kings of Japan, founded their rule in the opening years of Hongwu (洪武), and for near two hundred years kept up neighborly feeling with us. In the beginning our country too sent envoys and kept the rites of congratulation and of condolence, and Sin Sukju's (申叔舟) going and returning as recording secretary was one such. Later, when Sukju came to his death, King Seongjong (成宗) asked what he wished to say, and Sukju answered:

"I pray the country may not lose its peace with Japan."

King Seongjong was moved by those words and ordered Yi Hyeongwon (李亨元), Deputy Director of the Hall of Worthies, and Kim Heun (金訢), recording secretary, to keep up the concord. When they reached Tsushima (對馬島) the envoy was startled and made doubtful by wind and wave and fell ill, so he sent up a writing setting out the case; and King Seongjong had him deliver the letter and the gifts to the lord of the island and come back. From this time no envoy was sent again, and whenever an envoy of that country came he was only received according to the rites.

By this time Hira Hideyoshi had become king in place of the Minamoto. Hideyoshi, some say, was a man of China who drifted into the land of the Wa and lived by selling firewood. One day the king came out and met him on the road and thought his bearing remarkable, and called him and put him among the ranks of the soldiers (軍伍); and being brave and strong he fought well. He piled up merit until he reached high office, and thereby got power and in the end took the rule from the Minamoto and took their place. Some say that when the Minamoto was murdered by another man, Hideyoshi then killed that man too and took the country. He used troops and subdued the several islands and joined the sixty-six provinces of the land into one, and then conceived the purpose of invading abroad. Thereupon he said:

"Our envoys always go to Joseon, but the envoys of Joseon do not come; this is to make light of us."

So he sent Yasuhiro to seek an exchange of envoys, and the words of his letter were most haughty, with even the words, "Now the realm returns into the one grasp of my hand." In general it was already more than ten years since the Minamoto had fallen, and though the Wa of the several islands came and went to our country year by year, they feared the strictness of his orders and did not let it out, so that the court did not know.

Yasuhiro was then more than fifty years of age, with a large and imposing face and his beard and hair half white. At every post station he passed he must lodge in the upper room, and his bearing was haughty and quite unlike that of the Wa envoys in ordinary times, so that men thought it rather strange. By the old rule, the districts along the road, when they met a Wa envoy, turned out the people of their bounds to hold spears and stand in rows on both sides of the road, to show the majesty of arms. Yasuhiro, passing Indong (仁同), looked sidelong at the spear-holders and laughed and said:

"The shafts of your spears are too short."

When he came to Sangju (尙州), the magistrate Song Eunghyeong (宋應泂) set out a feast, and singing girls and music stood ranked in rows. Yasuhiro, seeing that Eunghyeong's hair was gray and failing, had the interpreter say:

"This old man has been many years among battles, so that his beard and hair are all gray; but the governor (使君) is among songs and singing girls and has no care at all, and yet is as white as this. How does it come about?"

In general it was a thrust by hint. When he came to the capital the Minister of Rites presided at the feast; and when the wine was at its height Yasuhiro scattered pepper about the floor. The singing girls and the musicians vied in picking it up without order. Yasuhiro went back to his lodging (舍館) and sighed and said to the interpreter:

"Your country will perish. The bonds of order have already broken down; what should it wait for but perishing?"

When he went back, the court only answered his letter, declining on the ground that the sea road was far, and would not allow an envoy to be sent. Yasuhiro went back and reported, and Hideyoshi was greatly angered and killed Yasuhiro and wiped out his kindred besides. In general, Yasuhiro and his elder brother Yasutoshi (康年) had come to our country from the time of the Minamoto and received the names of office from us, and his words were rather on our country's side, and for this, they say, he suffered harm from Hideyoshi.

Hira Yoshitoshi (平義智), an envoy of the country of Japan, came. Hideyoshi, having killed Tachibana Yasuhiro, had sent Yoshitoshi to come and seek an envoy of exchange. Yoshitoshi was the son-in-law of Hira Yukinaga (平行長), the great general who held the troops of that country, and was Hideyoshi's trusted man. So Morinaga (宗盛長), the lord of Tsushima, had held Tsushima for generations and served our country; but at this time Hideyoshi put the So (宗氏) aside and had Yoshitoshi take charge of the island's affairs in their place. When our country refused the exchange on the ground that it was not used to the sea road, Yoshitoshi said deceitfully that he was the son of the lord of the island and knew the sea road, and that they should go with him; thus he left us no words to refuse with, and meant at the same time to spy out our strength and weakness. Hira Shigenobu (平調信) and the monk Genso (玄蘇) and the rest came with him.

Yoshitoshi was young in years and fierce and hard, so that the other Wa all feared him and bowed and crawled on their knees and dared not look up at him. He stayed long at the Dongpyeong Guest House (東平舘) and was bent on taking our envoy and going with him, but the counsels of the court were only this way and that.

Some years before, the Wa raiders had invaded Sonjukdo (損竹島) in Jeolla Province and killed the frontier commander Yi Taewon (李太源); and those taken captive said that one Saeulbaedong (沙乙背同), a frontier subject of our country, had gone over to the Wa and turned traitor and led the Wa in their robbing, so that the court resented it. By this time someone said that Japan should be made to find and send back the traitorous subject, and only then should the exchange be discussed and their sincerity seen. This was hinted to the guest at the lodging, and Yoshitoshi said:

"This is not hard."

He sent Hira Shigenobu at once to make it known in his country, and in less than some months they seized and brought and presented all of our people, more than ten of them, who were in that country. The sovereign came out to the Hall of Benevolent Rule (仁政殿) and set out the majesty of arms on a great scale, and had Saeulbaedong and the rest bound and brought into the courtyard and reproved and questioned them, and beheaded them outside the walls. Yoshitoshi was rewarded with a horse of the royal stables. Afterward the Wa envoy and his train were received in audience and granted a feast, and Yoshitoshi and Genso and the rest all came within the hall and offered the cup in turn. At that time I had charge of the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Rites also set out a feast for the Wa envoys.

Yet the discussion of the exchange was long undecided. I, as Director of the Academy, was to draw up the state letter, and so I reported and asked that the matter be settled quickly, that no rift arise. The next day at the morning lecture Byeon Hyeop (邊協), a senior officer, and others also reported that to send an envoy in answer and to come back having seen their movements besides was no mistaken plan. Thereupon the counsels of the court were settled at last, and when men fit to be envoys were chosen, the great ministers made Hwang Yungil (黃允吉), a senior assistant (僉知), and Kim Seongil (金誠一), an instructor (司成), the chief and vice envoys, and Heo Seong (許筬), an academic officer (典籍), the recording secretary. In the third month of the Gyeongin year they set out at last with Yoshitoshi and the rest.

At that time Yoshitoshi presented two peacocks and muskets, spears, swords, and the like. The peacocks were let loose on a sea island off Namyang (南陽), and the muskets were sent down to the Armory. Our country's having muskets began from this time.

In the spring of the Sinmyo year the envoys of exchange Hwang Yungil, Kim Seongil, and the rest came back from Japan. The Wa Hira Shigenobu and Genso came with them.

At the first Yungil and the rest took ship at Busanpo on the twenty-ninth day of the fourth month of the year before and came to Tsushima and stayed a month. Then from Tsushima they went more than forty li by the water road to Iki (一岐島), and passing Hakata (博多州), Nagato (長門州), and Nagoya (浪古耶), came to the capital of that country only on the twenty-second day of the seventh month. In general the Wa made their road go round about on purpose and kept them waiting in place after place as well, and so they arrived only after several months.

While they were at Tsushima, Hira Yoshitoshi invited the envoys to a feast at a temple in the hills. The envoys were already seated when Yoshitoshi came in at the gate in a palanquin and got down only at the stone steps. Kim Seongil was angered and said:

"Tsushima is a vassal of the hedge of our country. The envoys have come bearing a command; how does he dare make so light of us? I cannot take part in this feast."

He rose at once and went out, and Heo Seong and the rest followed him out. Yoshitoshi laid the fault on the palanquin bearer and killed him, and came bearing his head and begged pardon. From this time the Wa revered Seongil and were wary of him and received him with added ceremony, and got down from their horses even when they saw him at a distance.

When they reached that country they lodged in a great temple. As it happened Hira Hideyoshi had gone to strike the Tosando (東山道), and they stayed some months; and after Hideyoshi came back he still did not receive the state letter at once, giving as his excuse that he was rebuilding his palace, so that only after staying five months in all at the guest house did they deliver their command. In that country they honor the heavenly sovereign (天皇), and Hideyoshi and all below him held themselves as subjects. Within the country Hideyoshi was not called king but only kanpaku (關白), or Marquis of Bolu (博陸侯). What is called kanpaku is taken from the words of Huo Guang (霍光), that "all matters are first reported and laid before him."

In receiving our envoys he allowed them to come into his palace in palanquins, and had reed pipes and horns lead them in, and had them go up on the hall floor and perform the rite. Hideyoshi's face was small and ugly and his color dark, and he had no uncommon look about him; only one felt a little that the light of his eyes flashed as though it pierced a man, they say. A threefold mat was laid and he sat on the ground facing south, wearing a gauze cap and a black robe, and several of his officials were seated in rows. Our envoys were led forward to their places, but the gear of a feast was not set out, and one table only was put before them, with a bowl of steamed cake in the middle; and the wine was passed in earthenware bowls, and the wine too was cloudy. His ceremony was most sparing and stopped at a few rounds, and there was no bowing and saluting and pressing the cup upon one another.

After a while Hideyoshi suddenly rose and went inside, and those in their places all did not move. Presently a man in everyday clothes came out from within holding a little child and walked about in the middle of the hall. Looking, it was Hideyoshi. Those seated in their places only bowed down. Presently he came out and stood beyond the pillar and called the musicians of our country and had them play all manner of music in full and listened. The little child made water on his clothes, and Hideyoshi laughed and called an attendant. A Wa woman came running at the sound and took the child and changed it into other clothes. They all did as they pleased, as though there were no one beside them. After the envoys took their leave and came out they did not see him again. Four hundred nyang of silver were given to the chief and the vice envoy, and to the recording secretary and the interpreters and below them there were differing amounts.

When our envoys were about to come back, the answering letter was not drawn up and given them in time, and they were told to go first. Seongil said:

"I came as envoy bearing a state letter; if there is no answering letter, this is like casting the command away in the grass."

Yungil feared they would be kept there and hurried away, and came to Sakaihama (界濱) and waited. The answering letter came at last, but the sense of its words was contrary and haughty and not what we had hoped for. Seongil would not take it, and set out only after having it altered several times. In every place they passed, Seongil put aside all the things the several Wa gave them.

Yungil came back and brought his ship in at Busan and reported the case in haste, saying that there would surely be war. After his report was made the sovereign received him and asked him, and Yungil answered as before. Kim Seongil said:

"Your servant saw no such sign."

And he said that it was not fitting for Yungil to shake the hearts of men. Thereupon those who discussed it took now Yungil's part and now Seongil's. I asked Seongil:

"Your words differ from Envoy Hwang's; if there is war, what will you do?"

He said:

"How should even I declare for certain that the Wa will not move in the end? Only, Hwang's words were too weighty, so that within and without were startled and perplexed, and I meant only to loosen that."

At that time there were words in the Wa's letter about leading troops and leaping into Ming. I said that we ought at once to set out the case and report it to the Celestial Court. The chief minister said that he feared the imperial court would hold us guilty of having privately dealt with the land of the Wa, and that it was better to conceal it. I said:

"That one goes and comes with a neighboring country on account of some business is what no one who holds a state can avoid. In the Chenghua (成化) years Japan also once sought through us to send tribute to China, and we reported it to the Celestial Court as it was, and a rescript came down admonishing them. What went before was already so, and this is not only of today. Now to conceal it and not report is not right in great righteousness. How much more, when the enemy truly have a scheme to invade the upper country: if it be reported from elsewhere and the Celestial Court should suspect instead that our country concealed it with one mind, then our guilt would not stop at the exchange of envoys."

Many in the court held my argument right, and so Kim Eungnam (金應南) and the rest were sent hurrying to report it. At that time Xu Yihou (許儀後), Chen Shen (陳申), and others, men of Fujian (福建) who had been taken captive and were among the Wa, had already made the Wa's real state known in secret, and Sho Nei (尙寧), the heir of the country of Ryukyu (琉球國), had also sent envoys one after another with word of it; and only our envoy did not arrive, so that the Celestial Court suspected us of holding two hearts toward the Wa, and the talk of it was rife. Xu Guo (許國), a grand secretary (閣老), had once come as envoy to our country, and he alone said, "Joseon serves the great country with utter sincerity and will surely not turn traitor with the Wa. Let us wait a while." Not long after, when Eungnam and the rest arrived with the memorial, Lord Xu was greatly glad, and the talk of the court was loosed at last, they say.

The court, in its anxiety over the Wa, picked ministers who knew frontier affairs and had them go round the three provinces below and make ready. Kim Su (金睟) was made governor of Gyeongsang, Yi Gwang (李洸) governor of Jeolla, and Yun Seongak (尹先覺) governor of Chungcheong, and they were to make the arms ready and put the walls and moats in order. The walls built in Gyeongsang Province were the more many: at Yeongcheon, Cheongdo, Samga, Daegu, Seongju, Busan, Dongnae, Jinju, Andong, Sangju, and the left and right army headquarters, some were newly built and some further repaired.

At that time great peace had lasted long and within and without were used to ease, so the people shrank from the labor and the sound of their resentment filled the roads. Yi Ro (李魯), a former academic officer who passed the examination in the same year as I, was a man of Hapcheon, and he sent me a writing saying that building walls was no plan, and said besides:

"Samga is blocked in front by Jeongjin (鼎津); can the Wa fly across it? Why weary the people with building to no purpose?"

Now when ten thousand li of blue sea cannot keep the Wa off, to think that a strip of water no wider than a belt would keep the Wa from crossing is poor reasoning indeed. Yet such was the talk of men at that time, and the Hall of Worthies too sent up a memorial arguing it.

But none of what was built in the two southern provinces got the right lie of the ground, and besides, they were broad and large and strove only to take in many people. The walls of Jinju, for one, had of old leaned on a steep place and been fit to hold; but at this time they were called small, and the eastern face was moved down onto level ground. Afterward the enemy entered the walls by this way, and the walls were not kept in the end. In general a wall is valued for being firm and small, yet they feared rather that it would not be broad; and in this too the talk of that time was so. And as for the root of military administration, and the essentials of choosing commanders, and the way to form and drill troops, not one part in a hundred was carried out, and so it came to defeat at last.

Yi Sunsin (李舜臣), the magistrate of Jeongeup, was picked and made naval commander of the left circuit of Jeolla.

Sunsin had boldness and craft of plan and was good at riding and shooting. He had once been garrison commander (萬戶) of Josan (造山), when there was much business on the northern frontier. Sunsin by a plan lured in Uulginae (于乙其乃), a barbarian who had turned traitor, and bound him and sent him to the army headquarters to be beheaded, and so the trouble of the barbarians at last ceased. Jeong Eonsin (鄭彥信), the inspector, had Sunsin guard the garrison farm on Nokdundo (鹿屯島). One day a great fog came down, and the troops had all gone out to gather the rice, and within the stockade were only some ten men. Presently the barbarian horsemen gathered from all four sides, and Sunsin shut the stockade gate and himself shot willow-leaf arrows (柳葉箭) from within the stockade without pause and brought some tens of the enemy down from their horses. When the barbarians were startled and drew back and fled, Sunsin opened the gate and galloped out alone shouting loudly and pursued them, so that the host of the barbarians fled utterly; and he took back all that had been seized and came home. But he had none in the court to push him forward, and for more than ten years after passing the examination he got no post, and only then became magistrate of Jeongeup.

At this time word of the Wa grew more urgent by the day, so the sovereign ordered the Border Defense Council that each should recommend men of talent fit to be commanders. I recommended Sunsin, and so he was raised up from Jeongeup and appointed naval commander. Some men doubted the quickness of it.

At that time, of the military commanders in the court, only Sin Rip (申砬) and Yi Il (李鎰) had the greatest names. Jo Daegon (曺大坤), army commander of the right circuit of Gyeongsang, was old in years and without valor, and many feared he could not bear a frontier charge. At the royal lecture I reported and asked that Yi Il be put in Daegon's place, and Hong Yeosun (洪汝諄), the Minister of War, said:

"A famed commander should be in the capital; Yi Il cannot be sent."

I reported again:

"In all things it is doing them beforehand that is to be valued; how much more the ordering of troops to ward off the enemy, which the less can be got ready of a sudden. If there is an upheaval one morning, Yi Il cannot but be sent in the end; and if he is to be sent anyway, it would rather be of some help that he go even one day earlier and make ready beforehand and wait for what comes. If not, and a commander like a guest hurries down in the suddenness of the hour, he will neither know the lie of that province nor know whether its troops are brave or fearful; and this is what the art of war warns against, and there will surely be regret hereafter."

There was no answer.

I went also to the Border Defense Council and deliberated with the others and reported, asking that the garrison-command (鎭管) law of our royal ancestors be restored. It was in outline as follows.

"At the beginning of the state the soldiery of each province were all divided and attached to garrison commands, so that when there was business the garrison command led the districts under it and set them in order like the scales of a fish and waited for the chief commander's orders. In Gyeongsang Province, for instance, Gimhae, Daegu, Sangju, Gyeongju, Andong, and Jinju were the six garrison commands. Even if there were enemy troops and the force of one garrison failed to win, the other garrisons would in their turn keep their troops strict and hold fast, so that it would not come to a crumbling and fleeing all at once. After the upheaval of the Eulmyo year, Kim Sumun (金秀文), being in Jeolla Province, first changed the law of dividing the troops and split up the several districts of the province and scattered them among the frontier commander, the defense commander, the auxiliary commanders, the commander-in-chief, and the province's own army and naval commanders, and named it the Plan for Mastering Victory (制勝方略); and the several provinces all followed it. Thereupon the name of garrison command remained, but in fact they were not bound to one another; so that once there is an urgent matter, far and near must needs move together, and troops without a commander are first gathered in the open field to wait for a commander a thousand li away. If the commander has not come in time and the enemy's blade is already near, the hearts of the troops are startled and afraid; and this is the road to certain collapse. Once a great host has collapsed it is hard to gather again, and though the commander arrive then, with whom shall he fight? It would be better, and handier in practice, to restore the garrison-command system of our royal ancestors, so that in time of peace they are easy to drill and in time of business can be called together, and so that front and rear answer one another and within and without lean on one another, and it does not come to earth crumbling and tiles breaking."

The business was sent down to the province concerned, and Kim Su, the governor of Gyeongsang, said that the Plan for Mastering Victory had been in use so long that it could not be changed of a sudden; and so the argument came to nothing.

In the spring of the Imjin year Sin Rip and Yi Il were sent out separately to go round and inspect the frontier defenses. Yi Il went to Chungcheong and Jeolla Provinces and Sin Rip to Gyeonggi and Hwanghae, and both came back after a month and more. What they checked was only bows and arrows and spears and swords, and the districts in general got up their papers only and so escaped the law, and there was no other good plan for warding off and holding. Sin Rip had a name from the first for being harsh and fierce, and wherever he came he killed men to set up his authority, so that the magistrates feared him and turned out the people to mend the roads and set out tents, and their attendance on him was most extravagant, beyond even the progress of a great minister.

After his report was made, on the first day of the fourth month, Sin Rip came to my house to see me. I asked him:

"If there is an upheaval before long, you will surely be charged with the business; how do you reckon the hardness or ease of the enemy's strength today?"

Sin Rip made very light of it and said it was not to be feared. I said:

"It is not so. In former days the Wa trusted only to short weapons, but now they have added the long skill called the musket, and they cannot be looked on lightly."

Sin Rip said out of hand:

"Though they have muskets, how should they hit with every one?"

I said:

"The country has been at peace so long that the troops are fearful and weak, and if there is truly an urgent matter it will be most hard to hold out. Some years on, men will be rather used to arms and it may be that it can be set right, I do not know; but it is the beginning of it that I greatly fear."

Sin Rip did not understand at all and went away.

In general, Sin Rip had become prefect of Onseong in the Gyemi year, and when barbarians who had turned traitor ringed Jongseong, Sin Rip hurried to the rescue and charged with some ten horsemen, so that the barbarians loosed the ring and went. The court held Sin Rip to be the stuff of a great general and raised him to army commander of the north and army commander of Pyeongan, and not long after to the rank of senior grand master (資憲大夫), and would even have made him Minister of War. His spirit was at its keenest, like Zhao Kuo (趙括) making light of Qin (秦), and in facing a matter he had not the least mind to fear; and those who knew were anxious.

Jo Daegon, army commander of the right circuit of Gyeongsang, was replaced, and by a special order Kim Seongil, a royal secretary, was put in his place. The Border Defense Council reported, "Seongil is an official of the scholars and does not suit the charge of a frontier commander at such a time"; but it was not consented to, and Seongil took his leave and went at last.

On the thirteenth day of the fourth month the Wa soldiers invaded the border and took Busanpo, and the garrison commander (僉使) Jeong Bal (鄭撥) died.

Before this the Wa Hira Shigenobu and Genso and the rest had come with the envoys of exchange and lodged at the Dongpyeong Guest House. The Border Defense Council asked that Hwang Yungil and Kim Seongil and the rest go privately with wine and food to comfort them and in that opening quietly ask about the affairs of their country, so as to see the true state and make ready our measures; and it was allowed. When Seongil came to the lodging, Genso did indeed speak secretly:

"China has long cut Japan off and the tribute does not pass, and Hira Hideyoshi for this reason harbors resentment and shame in his heart and would raise troops. If Joseon reports it first and has the tribute road opened, there will surely be no trouble, and the people of the sixty-six provinces of Japan too will be spared the labor of war."

When Seongil and the rest reproved and admonished him with great righteousness, Genso said again:

"Of old Goryeo led the troops of Yuan and struck Japan, and that Japan should repay the grudge upon Joseon for this is what the case properly requires."

His words went further and further from reason, so from this time they asked no more, and Shigenobu and Genso too went back of themselves.

In the summer of the Sinmyo year Hira Yoshitoshi came to Busanpo again and said to the frontier commander:

"Japan would deal with Ming, and it would be fortunate if Joseon would report this for us; if not, the two countries will lose their concord. This is a great matter, and so I come and make it known."

The frontier commander reported this, but at that time the counsels of the court were just then blaming the exchange of envoys, and being angered besides at his haughtiness they did not answer. Yoshitoshi kept his ship moored some ten days and then went away sulking. After this the Wa came no more. The Wa who stayed at the guest house in Busanpo had always been some tens, but little by little they went into their own country until the guest house was all but empty; and men thought it strange.

On this day the Wa ships came from Tsushima covering the sea, so that looking out one could not see the end of them. Jeong Bal, garrison commander of Busanpo, had gone hunting on Jeoryeongdo and came into the walls in disorder. The Wa soldiers arrived behind him and went ashore and gathered like clouds on all four sides, and in a little while the walls fell. Bak Hong (朴泓), naval commander of the left circuit, seeing how great the enemy's strength was, dared not send out his troops and abandoned his walls and fled. The Wa divided their troops and took Seopyeongpo and Dadaepo, and Yun Heungsin (尹興信), garrison commander of Dadae, fought with all his strength and was killed. Yi Gak (李珏), army commander of the left circuit, heard the word and came from the army headquarters into Dongnae; and when Busan fell he was startled and confused and at a loss, and then, giving as his excuse that he would stay outside and hold the enemy in check from front and rear, he went out of the walls and withdrew to Sosan Station and camped. Song Sanghyeon (宋象賢), the prefect, asked him to stay and hold it with him, but Yi Gak would not.

On the fifteenth day the Wa advanced and drew near Dongnae, and Sanghyeon went up on the south gate of the walls and urged on the fighting half a day, and the walls fell. Sanghyeon sat fast and took the sword and died. The Wa, holding it worthy that he had kept his post to the death, laid him in a coffin and buried him outside the walls and set up a marker so that he might be known.

Thereupon the districts crumbled and fled merely at the wind of the enemy (望風). Bak Jin (朴晉), prefect of Miryang, fled back from Dongnae and would block the narrow road at Jagwon (鵲院) and hold the enemy. The enemy took Yangsan and came to Jagwon, and seeing the troops that held it they went from behind the hill and took the high ground and came on scattered and clinging like ants, so that those who held the narrow road looked out and all scattered. Bak Jin hurried back to Miryang and set fire to the arms and the storehouses and burnt them, and abandoned the walls and went into the hills.

Yi Gak fled back to the army headquarters and first sent out his own concubine, so that within the walls there was an uproar and the troops were startled four or five times in a single night. Yi Gak took the dawn and slipped his own body away and fled, and the host of troops crumbled utterly. The enemy divided the roads and drove far on and took district after district, and there was not one who dared block them.

Seo Yewon (徐禮元), prefect of Gimhae, shut his gates and held the walls, and the enemy cut the barley outside the walls and filled in the moat, and in a moment it was level with the walls, and they trod upon it and crossed over. The magistrate of Chogye, one so-and-so, fled first and Yewon went out after him, and the walls fell at last.

Kim Su, the inspector, was at Jinju at the first, and hearing of the upheaval he hurried toward Dongnae; but halfway he heard that the enemy troops had already come near and could not go forward, and came back to the right circuit and did not know what to do. He only sent written orders to the several districts admonishing the people to escape the enemy, and by this the whole province was emptied and there was the less that could be done.

U Bongnyong (禹伏龍), magistrate of Yonggung, was leading his district's troops to the army headquarters and was eating by the roadside at Yeongcheon, when some hundreds of the troops of Hayang, attached to the defense commander, passed before him on their way by the upper road. Bongnyong was angered that the troops did not dismount, and held them and reproved them for meaning to turn traitor. The troops of Hayang brought out and showed the army commander's dispatch and would just then have cleared themselves, when Bongnyong signed to his own troops with his eyes and had them ringed and killed to the last man, so that the heaped corpses filled the field. The inspector reported this as merit, and Bongnyong was made a grand master of communication (通政大夫) and prefect of Andong in Jeong Huijeok's (鄭熙績) place. Afterward the orphaned children and the widowed wives of the men of Hayang would block the horse's head whenever an envoy came and cry out their wrong; but Bongnyong had a name at that time, and there was none, they say, to right it for them.

Early on the seventeenth day the frontier report arrived at last, and it was the dispatch of Bak Hong, naval commander of the left circuit. The great ministers and the Border Defense Council gathered in the ministers' hall and asked to see the sovereign, but it was not allowed. They reported at once, asking that Yi Il be made frontier commander and go down by the middle road; that Seong Eunggil (成應吉) be made defense commander of the left and go down by the left circuit, and Jo Gyeong (趙儆) defense commander of the right and go down by the western road; that Yu Geungnyang (劉克良) be made auxiliary commander and hold Jungnyeong, and Byeon Gi (邊璣) auxiliary commander and hold Joryeong. Yun Inham (尹仁涵), prefect of Gyeongju, was held to be an official of the scholars and soft and fearful, so Byeon Eungseong (邊應星), former prefect of Ganggye, was called out of mourning (起復) and made prefect of Gyeongju. All of them were to pick officers of their own and take them along.

Presently the report that Busan had fallen arrived as well. At that time Busan was ringed about and no one could get through, so Bak Hong's dispatch said only this:

"Going up on a height and looking out, red banners fill the town. By this I know the walls have fallen."

When Yi Il was to go leading three hundred picked troops of the capital, the roll of soldiers the Ministry of War had chosen was brought and looked at, and they were all untrained folk of the lanes and the markets, with clerks and students making up half. When they were checked at the hour, the students came in their formal robes holding their examination papers and the clerks wore flat-topped caps; and those who pleaded for themselves and sought to be let off filled the courtyard, so that there was none fit to send. Three days passed since Yi Il had received his command and he could not set out, so of necessity Yi Il was sent ahead and Yu Ok (俞沃), a detached commander, was to lead them after him.

I reported that Hong Yeosun, the Minister of War, did not manage affairs and was much resented besides by the troops, and might be replaced. Thereupon Kim Eungnam became minister in his place and Sim Chunggyeom (沈忠謙) vice minister. The censors reported, asking that a great minister be made inspector-general to keep the several commanders in order, and the chief minister recommended me to answer the command. I asked that Kim Eungnam be made my deputy. Kim Yeomul (金汝岉), former prefect of Uiju, had skill in war but was then shut in prison over some affair, so I reported and asked that his guilt be held over and that I take him with me. Fighting men fit to be aides were gathered, and more than eighty were got.

Presently urgent reports came one upon another, saying that the enemy's blade had already passed Miryang and Daegu and was drawing near beneath Joryeong. I said to Eungnam and Sin Rip:

"The enemy have come deep in and the matter is already urgent; what is to be done?"

Sin Rip said:

"Yi Il is ahead with a lonely force and there is none to follow behind him; and though the inspector-general go down, he is not a fighting commander. Why not send a fierce commander down first, speeding like a shooting star, to help Yi Il and answer with him?"

I knew that Sin Rip's purpose lay in going himself to help Yi Il. I asked, with Eungnam, to see the sovereign, and reported as Sin Rip had said, and the sovereign called Sin Rip at once and questioned him and then made Sin Rip grand frontier commander.

Sin Rip came out beyond the palace gate and called fighting men together himself, but there were none who wished to follow him. At that time I was at the Privy Council making ready to depart, and Sin Rip came to where I was and saw those who had answered my call standing thick between the stone steps and the courtyard, and his face grew very angry; and pointing at Minister Kim he said to me:

"What use will it be for Your Excellency to take such a man as this along? This small man wishes to go as your deputy."

I knew that Sin Rip was angry that the fighting men did not follow him, and I laughed and said:

"It is all the one country's business; why pick between yours and mine? Your Excellency is already setting out, and it is urgent. Take first the officers I have got. I shall gather others apart and take them."

And I gave him the roll of officers. Sin Rip then looked round at the fighting men in the courtyard and said, "Come," and led them out; and they all went away downhearted. Kim Yeomul went with them too, and he was very far from glad in his heart.

When Sin Rip set out the sovereign received him and gave him a sword of honor and said:

"Whoever from Yi Il downward does not follow your command, use this sword upon him."

Sin Rip took his leave and came out, and went also to the ministers' hall to see the great ministers; and as he was about to go down the stone steps the gauze cap on his head suddenly fell to the ground, and those who saw it lost the color of their faces. When he reached Yongin he did not write his own name on the dispatch in which he reported affairs, and some men wondered whether his mind was disordered.

Order was given to seize Kim Seongil, army commander of the right circuit of Gyeongsang, and send him down to prison; but before it reached him he was made commissioner for summoning and admonishing (招諭使) instead, and Yu Sungin (柳崇仁), magistrate of Haman, was made army commander. At the first Seongil came to Sangju and heard that the enemy had already invaded the border, and hurried night and day toward his own headquarters; and on the road he met Jo Daegon and they handed over the seal and the tally of command (兵符). At that time the enemy had already taken Gimhae and were plundering the several districts of the right circuit in divisions. Seongil went forward and came face to face with the enemy, and his commanders and troops would have fled. Seongil got down from his horse and sat astride a camp stool and did not move, and called the officer Yi Jongin (李宗仁) and said:

"You are a brave man. You cannot withdraw first at the sight of the enemy."

When one of the enemy in a golden mask came rushing on, swinging his sword, Jongin galloped out and met him and shot him dead with a single arrow, and the several enemy drew back and fled and dared not come on. Seongil gathered and called in those who had scattered and sent written orders round the districts, making it his plan to tie the enemy down.

The sovereign, holding that Seongil had gone as envoy to Japan the year before and said the enemy would not soon come, and so had loosened the hearts of men and spoiled the country's business, ordered an officer of the State Tribunal sent to seize and bring him, and the matter was about to pass all reckoning. Kim Su, the governor, hearing that Seongil was being brought under arrest, came out upon the road and took leave of him. Seongil's words and spirit were lofty and he did not touch upon his own affair by so much as a word, but only urged Kim Su to strike the enemy with all his strength. Ha Jayong (河自溶), an old clerk, sighed and said:

"He does not fear his own death and grieves only for the country's business; he is a true loyal subject."

When Seongil's progress reached Jiksan the sovereign's anger was loosed, and knowing besides that Seongil had won the hearts of the gentry and people of that province, he pardoned his guilt and made him commissioner for summoning and admonishing the right circuit, ordering him to admonish the people of the province and raise troops and strike the enemy. At that time Yu Sungin had merit in battle, and so was raised up and appointed army commander.

Kim Geuk (金玏), a senior assistant, was made commissioner for settling and gathering (安集使) in the left circuit of Gyeongsang. At that time Kim Su the governor was in the right circuit, and the enemy troops lay athwart the middle road so that no word passed to the left circuit. The magistrates had all abandoned their offices and fled, and the hearts of the people were scattered. The court, hearing this, held that Kim Geuk, being a man of Yeongcheon (榮川), knew the state of the people of that province in detail and could settle and gather them, and so reported and sent him. When Kim Geuk arrived, the people of the left circuit heard the court's command for the first time and came back and gathered little by little. The two districts of Yeongcheon and Punggi, by good fortune, the enemy did not reach, and righteous troops rose there in fair numbers, they say.

The enemy took Sangju, and Yi Il, the frontier commander, was beaten in battle and fled back to Chungju.

At the first, Kim Su, the inspector of Gyeongsang Province, hearing of the enemy's upheaval, at once divided the troops according to the Plan for Mastering Victory and sent writings round the several districts that each should lead the troops attached to him and gather at the appointed place and wait for the commander from the capital to come. The magistrates below Mungyeong all led their troops to Daegu and lodged in the open by a stream and waited some days for the frontier commander. The frontier commander had not yet come, and as the enemy drew nearer and nearer the host of troops were startled and stirred among themselves. As it happened a great rain fell and their clothes and gear were soaked and the army grain did not keep up, so that in the middle of the night they all crumbled and scattered; and the magistrates every one galloped back alone.

When the frontier commander entered Mungyeong the district was already empty and not one man was to be seen. He himself opened the storehouse and brought out grain and fed those he led, and passing Hamchang came to Sangju. Kim Hae (金澥), the magistrate, had gone out to the post station on the excuse of meeting and entertaining the frontier commander, and had fled and hidden in the hills, and only Gwon Gil (權吉), the administrator, was holding the district. Yi Il reproved Gwon Gil for having no troops and had him dragged into the courtyard to be beheaded; and Gwon Gil pleaded piteously and asked of himself to go out and gather men. All night he searched the villages, and by the next morning he had brought in several hundred, all of them farmers. Yi Il stayed one day at Sangju and opened the storehouse and released grain to draw out the scattered people, and from the mountain valleys they came out one and two at a time, until there were again more than several hundred. In the suddenness of the hour he strung them into ranks and made them troops, but there was not one of them fit to bear a fight.

By that time the enemy had already reached Seonsan. Toward dusk a man of Gaeryeong came and told that the enemy were near, and Yi Il would have beheaded him for confusing the multitude. The man cried out:

"I pray you shut me up for a while. If the enemy have not come by tomorrow morning, it will not be too late to die then."

That night the enemy troops camped at Jangcheon, twenty li from Sangju; but Yi Il's force had no scouts, so they did not know that the enemy had come. The next morning Yi Il, still saying there were no enemy, brought the man of Gaeryeong out of custody and beheaded him and had his head shown round to the multitude. Then, joining the commanders and troops who had come from the capital to the people he had got for troops, barely eight or nine hundred in all, he practiced the forming of ranks by the stream north of the town; and leaning on the hill he made his camp and set the great commander's banner in the midst of it. Yi Il put on his armor and set his horse beneath the great banner, and his aides Yun Seom (尹暹) and Bak Ho (朴箎), the administrator Gwon Gil, and Kim Jongmu (金宗武), postal inspector of Sageun, and the rest all got down from their horses and stood behind Yi Il's horse.

After a while a few men came out from among the woods and loitered and looked about and went back. Many suspected they were the enemy's scouts, but being burned by the affair of the man of Gaeryeong they dared not report it. Presently smoke was seen rising in two or three places inside the town, and Yi Il at last sent one officer to look. The officer sat astride his horse with two post servants holding the bit, going slowly, when the Wa, who had lain beforehand beneath a bridge, struck the officer with a musket so that he fell from the horse. The Wa cut off his head and took it. Our troops looked on and lost their spirit.

Presently the enemy came on in force and fell upon us with more than ten muskets, and those struck died at once. Yi Il hurriedly called his troops to shoot their arrows, but at some tens of paces they fell short and did not harm the enemy. The enemy had already divided into left and right wings and come out, raising their banners and going round behind the troops and closing the ring upon them. Yi Il, knowing the matter was urgent, turned his horse and fled northward, and the troops fell into great disorder and each fled to save his life, and those who got away were few. The aides and all below them who could not get to horse in time were every one killed by the enemy.

The enemy pursued Yi Il hard, and Yi Il abandoned his horse and threw off his clothes and let down his hair and fled naked, and coming to Mungyeong he called for paper and brush and reported his defeat in haste. He would have fallen back and held Joryeong, but hearing that Sin Rip was at Chungju he hurried to Chungju at last.

Yi Yangwon (李陽元), the Right State Councillor, was made commander for holding the walls; Yi Jeon (李戩) and Byeon Eonsu (邊彥琇) commanders of the left and right guards of the capital; and Bak Chunggan (朴忠侃), Lord of Sangsan, inspector of the capital, to put the walls in order. Kim Myeongwon (金命元) was called out of mourning and made commander-in-chief to hold the Han River.

At that time the report of Yi Il's defeat had already come and the hearts of men were in an uproar. Within the palace there was a purpose of leaving the capital, but the court outside did not know it. Kim Eungsu (金應壽), the horse-keeper (理馬) in charge of horses at the Royal Stables Office, came to the ministers' hall and spoke in the chief minister's ear and went, and came again, so that those who saw it wondered; it was because the chief minister was then superintendent (提調) of the Royal Stables. Yi Hangbok (李恒福), the chief royal secretary, wrote six characters on his palm — "let the horses be set within the Yeonggang Gate" — and showed them to me.

The censors impeached the chief minister for having spoiled the country and asked that he be dismissed, but it was not consented to. The royal kinsmen gathered outside the inner gate and wailed and begged that the walls not be abandoned. Kim Gwiyeong (金貴榮), Director of the Privy Council, was the more indignant and went in with the several great ministers to see the sovereign and ask that the capital be held fast, and said besides:

"Whoever leads the argument for abandoning the walls is a small man."

The sovereign said:

"The Royal Ancestral Shrine and the altars of state are here; where should I go?"

So they all withdrew. Yet the matter could not be helped. The people of the wards and villages, the slaves of the public and of private houses, the clerks, and the three medical offices (醫司) were picked out and set to hold the parapets in divisions; and when the parapets were counted they were more than thirty thousand, while those to hold the walls were barely seven thousand and nearly all a rabble, who all harbored a mind to go down the wall and flee. The soldiers on duty, though attached to the Ministry of War, had played crooked with the clerks under it and taken bribes, and those privately let off were very many. The officers did not ask who went and who stayed, so that when the urgent hour came none of them could be used; to such a pass had military administration fallen slack.

The great ministers asked that a crown prince be set up to bind the hearts of men, and it was so followed.

Yi Deokhyeong (李德馨), a deputy director (同知事), was sent as envoy to the Wa army.

At the defeat at Sangju, one Gyeong Eungsun (景應舜), an interpreter of Japanese, was in Yi Il's camp and was taken by the enemy. The Wa commander Hira Yukinaga gave Eungsun Hira Hideyoshi's letter (書契) and one dispatch addressed to the Ministry of Rites and sent him out, and said besides:

"When we were at Dongnae we took the magistrate of Ulsan alive and sent the letter by him, and to this day there is no answer. If Joseon has any mind for peace, let Yi Deokhyeong come and meet me at Chungju on the twenty-eighth day."

In general Deokhyeong had been commissioner of comfort (宣慰使) the year before and had received the Wa envoys, and that is why Yukinaga wished to see him. Eungsun came to the capital, and at that time matters were urgent and there was nowhere for a plan to come from, and it was thought that by this the troops might perhaps be slowed. Deokhyeong too asked of himself to go, so the Ministry of Rites was made to draw up an answering letter, and he took Eungsun and went.

Mars (熒惑) trespassed on the Southern Dipper (南斗).

The troops of Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Hwanghae, Pyeongan, Hamgyeong, and the other provinces were called to come into the capital to its aid. Yi Wonik (李元翼), the Minister of Personnel, was made grand inspector of Pyeongan Province and Choe Heungwon (崔興源), a senior officer, grand inspector of Hwanghae Province, and both were sent off that very day. There was an argument for a progress westward, and as Wonik had once been prefect of Anju and Heungwon governor of Hwanghae, and both had governed with kindness so that the hearts of the people were glad of them, they were sent ahead to soothe and admonish the troops and the people and make ready for the progress.

The enemy troops came into Chungju, and Sin Rip met them in battle and was greatly beaten and died, and the several forces crumbled utterly.

When Sin Rip came to Chungju, those who had come and gathered from the districts of Chungcheong Province were more than eight thousand. Sin Rip would have held Joryeong, but hearing that Yi Il was beaten his heart fell and he came back to Chungju. He called Yi Il and Byeon Gi and the rest as well and had them all come to Chungju, and then abandoned the steep places and did not hold them, and his commands were many and confused, so that those who saw it knew he would surely be beaten.

An officer who was close to him secretly told him that the enemy had already crossed Joryeong, and this was in the early evening of the twenty-seventh day. Sin Rip suddenly dashed out of the town, and the camp was in a stir and did not know where Sin Rip was. Only when the night was deep did he come quietly back to his lodging, and the next morning he had the officer dragged out and beheaded for speaking wild words. In his dispatch he still said that the enemy had not yet left Sangju; so he did not know that the enemy troops were already within ten li.

Then he led his troops out and camped between the two waters before Tangeumdae (彈琴臺). That ground had many paddies to left and right, and water and grass were mingled so that it was not convenient for riding horses. A little after, the enemy came dividing the roads from Danwol Station, and their force was like wind and rain. One road came eastward along the hills and one came down along the river, and the sound of their guns shook the earth and the dust reached the sky. Sin Rip did not know what to do, and twice he whipped his horse and would have hurled himself upon the enemy's ranks, but he could not get in; and turning back he galloped to the river and drowned himself and died. The several forces all leapt into the river, and the corpses covered the river and drifted down. Kim Yeomul too died among the disordered troops, and Yi Il got away and fled through the mountain valleys to the east.

At the first the court, hearing that the enemy troops were strong, feared that Yi Il could not hold out alone; and as Sin Rip was a famed commander of the day whom the troops feared and obeyed, they had him lead a heavy force and follow behind him, hoping that the two commanders would join their strength and ward off the enemy; and the plan was not mistaken. Unhappily the commanders of that province, by water and by land, were all fearful. On the sea, Bak Hong, naval commander of the left circuit, did not send out a single soldier; and Won Gyun (元均), naval commander of the right circuit, though his water road was a little far, had many ships under him already, and the enemy troops did not all arrive in one day; so had he led out his whole host and gone forward and shown his force and stood against them, and had he won but once by good fortune, the enemy would have had the care of looking behind them and surely could not have come deep in so suddenly. Yet they fled far at the mere wind of the enemy and did not fight even once.

When the enemy came ashore, Yi Gak and Jo Daegon, the army commanders of the left and right, one fled and one was replaced; so the enemy beat their drums and went about unhindered, treading hundreds of li of land without men and coming up northward night and day, and there was not one place that dared stand against them and slow their force by the least. In less than ten days they had already reached Sangju. Yi Il was a commander like a guest and had to contend with them of a sudden without troops, so that in truth his case could not match theirs; and before Sin Rip reached Chungju Yi Il had already been beaten, so that in advancing and withdrawing there was nothing to lean upon, and by this the matter was greatly spoiled. Alas, it is bitter.

Afterward I heard that even when the enemy had entered Sangju they still shrank from passing the steep places. Some ten li south of Mungyeong district there is an old fortress called the Gomo fortress (姑母城), which holds the place where the left and right circuits meet, with two mountain valleys as though bound together and a great stream coiling in the midst, and the road running beneath it. The enemy, fearing there were troops to hold it, had men spy it out two or three times, and only after they knew there were no troops did they pass it, they say, singing and dancing.

Later, Commander-in-chief Li Rusong (李如松), the Ming commander, passed Joryeong in pursuit of the enemy and sighed:

"With such a steep place as this, they did not know how to hold it; Regional Commander Sin may be said to have been without plans."

In general Sin Rip, though swift and fierce and so winning a name at that time, had no strength in reckoning and strategy. A man of old said, "When the commander does not know his soldiers, he gives his country to the enemy." Now regret cannot reach it, yet it may still serve as a warning for days to come, and so I set it down in full.

At dawn on the last day of the fourth month the royal carriage made its progress westward.

After Sin Rip set out, the people of the capital looked day by day for word of a victory. On the evening before, three men in felt hats came galloping in by the Sungin Gate, and the people in the town vied in asking news of the field. They answered:

"We are servants of the frontier commander's officers. Yesterday the frontier commander was beaten at Chungju and died, and the several forces crumbled utterly. We slipped our bodies away and came alone, meaning only to tell our households to escape the troops."

Those who heard were greatly startled and passed it from one to another wherever they went, and in a little while the whole town trembled.

In the early evening the ministers were called to deliberate upon withdrawing. The sovereign came out to the eastern gallery and sat upon the ground with lamps and candles lit, and the royal kinsmen Lord Hawon and Lord Haneung and the rest sat in attendance. The great ministers reported:

"The case of affairs has come to this; move the carriage for a while to Pyeongyang and ask troops of the Celestial Court and plan the recovery."

Gwon Hyeop (權悏), an inspector, asked to be received and came forward to the very knees of the sovereign and asked in a loud voice that the capital be held fast, and his words were very noisy. I said:

"Perilous and disordered though the time be, the rite between sovereign and subject must not be like this; withdraw a little and then report."

Gwon Hyeop cried out again:

"Does the Left State Councillor too say such a thing? Is it to say, then, that the capital may be abandoned?"

I reported:

"Gwon Hyeop's words are most loyal. Only, the case of affairs cannot be otherwise."

Then it was asked that the princes be sent out to the several provinces to call together troops loyal to the king, and that the crown prince follow the carriage; and the counsel was settled. The great ministers came out and received their charge outside the inner gate: Prince Imhae was to go to Hamgyeong Province, with Kim Gwiyeong, Director of the Privy Council, and Yun Takyeon (尹卓然), Lord of Chilgye, following him; and Prince Sunhwa to Gangwon Province, with Hwang Jeongwuk (黃廷彧), Lord of Janggye, Hwang Hyeok (黃赫), a guards officer, and Yi Gi (李墍), a deputy director, following him. In general, Hwang Hyeok's daughter had become Prince Sunhwa's consort and Yi Gi was a man of Wonju, and so they were sent along.

At that time the Right State Councillor became the commander staying in the capital, and the Chief State Councillor and some tens of ministers were chosen for the escort, while for me there was no command. The Royal Secretariat reported, "Yu so-and-so cannot be left out of the escort," and so I was made to follow. Jo Yeongseon (趙英璇), a physician of the Royal Pharmacy, and Sin Deongnin (申德麟), a clerk of the Royal Secretariat, and some ten others said in a loud voice, "The capital must not be abandoned."

Presently Yi Il's dispatch arrived, but the palace guards had all scattered and the water clock did not sound either. A torch was got from the office of royal messengers and the dispatch opened and read, and in it was written, "The enemy will enter the capital within today or tomorrow."

A good while after the dispatch had gone in, the carriage set out. The guards of the three offices fled and hid and in the darkness men bumped against one another. As it happened Ji Gwisu (池貴壽) of the Plume Forest Guard passed before me, and I knew him and reproved him and made him join the escort; and Gwisu said, "How should I dare not give my strength?" and called two of his fellows and came with them. As we passed before Gyeongbok Palace, wailing was heard from both sides of the market street. Yi Sugyeom (李守謙), a clerk of the Office of Diplomatic Correspondence, took my bridle and asked:

"What is to be done with the documents in the office?"

I told him to gather what was most needed and follow after, and Sugyeom went away weeping.

We went out by the Donui Gate and reached Sahyeon, and the eastern sky grew light. Looking back at the town, fire had broken out in the great storehouse inside the South Gate, and smoke and flame already rose to the sky. Crossing Sahyeon and coming to Seokgyo, rain fell. Gwon Jing (權徵), the governor of Gyeonggi, came after us and joined the escort. When we reached Byeokje Station the rain was heavy and the whole train was soaked. The sovereign entered the station and came out again a little after. Of the several officials, many from this point turned back into the capital, and the attendants and the censors too now and then fell behind and did not come. As we passed Hyeeum Pass the rain was as though poured out. The palace women rode weak horses and covered their faces with things and went crying aloud. As we passed Masan Station, a man who was out among the fields looked at us and wailed:

"The country abandons us and goes; on what shall we rely to live?"

When we reached the Imjin the rain still did not stop. The sovereign was in the boat and called the chief minister and me to be received. When we had crossed it was already dark so that colors could not be told apart. On the southern bank of the Imjin there had been from of old a Clerks' Hall (丞廳), and fearing that the enemy would take its timbers to make a raft bridge and cross, he ordered it burnt; and the light of the fire lit the north bank of the river so that we could find the road and go.

At the first watch we reached Dongpa Station. Heo Jin (許晉), prefect of Paju, and Gu Hyoyeon (具孝淵), prefect of Jangdan, were there as commissioners for attending the royal progress (支待差使員) and had roughly set out the sovereign's meal; but those who guarded us had come hungry all day and broke into the kitchen and seized it and ate. Fearing that what was to be offered above would fall short, Heo Jin and Gu Hyoyeon took fright and fled.

On the morning of the first day of the fifth month the great ministers were received, and he asked whether among the inspectors of the south there were any able to come to the king's aid. The day grew late and the carriage was to head for Gaeseong, but the clerks and soldiers of Gyeonggi had fled and scattered and there was no one to guard it. As it happened Jo Indeuk (趙仁得), governor of Hwanghae, was coming in with the troops of his province to our aid, and Nam Eui (南嶷), prefect of Seoheung, arrived first with several hundred troops and fifty or sixty horses, and by this we could set out at last. As we were about to go, Choe Eonjun (崔彥俊), the keeper of the keys (司鑰) of the palace gates, came out and said:

"The people of the palace did not eat yesterday either, and today again they have not eaten. Some rice must be got to stay their hunger before they can go."

The grain the troops of Nam Eui carried was sought out, and two or three mal of coarse and fine rice mixed were brought in.

At midday we reached the Chohyeon post, and Jo Indeuk came and was received. A tent was set in the middle of the road to receive the sovereign, and the officials ate for the first time. In the evening we lodged at Gaeseong and he entered the public office outside the south gate. The censors sent up writings in turn impeaching the chief minister for the guilt of forming cliques and spoiling the country, and the like, but it was not consented to.

The next day the censors reported again, and the chief minister was dismissed and I was raised to his place; and Choe Heungwon became Left State Councillor and Yun Dusu (尹斗壽) Right State Councillor, and Sin Hal (申硈), army commander of North Hamgyeong, was replaced and came.

At midday on this day the sovereign came out upon the tower of the southern gate of the walls to comfort the people, and bade them each report what they had in mind. One man came out and prostrated himself, and when he was asked what he had to say he answered:

"I pray you call State Councillor Jeong."

In general Jeong Cheol (鄭澈) was then in banishment at Ganggye, and that is why he said so. The sovereign said, "I understand," and at once called Jeong Cheol to come to the temporary court. In the evening he returned to his lodging. I was dismissed for guilt and Yu Hong (俞泓) became Right State Councillor, and Choe Heungwon and Yun Dusu rose each a step.

Hearing that the enemy had not yet reached the capital, all the talk blamed the leaving of the capital as a mistake, so Sin Jap (申磼), a royal secretary, was sent back to the capital to look at how things stood.

On the third day the enemy entered the capital, and Yi Yangwon, the commander staying in the capital, and Kim Myeongwon, the commander-in-chief, both fled.

At the first the enemy divided into three roads from Dongnae and advanced. One road went by Yangsan, Miryang, Cheongdo, Daegu, Indong, and Seonsan and came to Sangju and broke Yi Il's force. One road went by Janggi and Gijang in the left circuit and took the left army headquarters and Ulsan, Gyeongju, Yeongcheon, Sinnyeong, Uiheung, Gunwi, and Bian, and crossed the Hapungjin at Yonggung and came out at Mungyeong, and joining the force of the middle road crossed Joryeong and came into Chungju. From Chungju they divided again into two roads, one hurrying to Yeoju and crossing the river and going by Yanggeun and crossing Yongjin and coming out east of the capital, and one hurrying by Juksan and Yongin to the south of the Han River. And one road went from Gimhae by Mugye district in Seongju and crossed the river and passed Jirye and Geumsan and came out at Yeongdong in Chungcheong Province, and struck and took Cheongju and headed for Gyeonggi. Their banners and swords and spears stretched a thousand li and the sound of their guns was heard from one to another; and wherever they passed, at ten li or at fifty or sixty li, they all held the steep places and set up camps and stockades and left troops to hold them, and at night they raised fires and answered one another.

Kim Myeongwon, the commander-in-chief, was at the Jecheon Pavilion, and seeing the enemy arrive he dared not fight, and sank all the arms and cannon and engines in the river and changed his clothes and fled. Sim Ujeong (沈友正), his aide, held him back stubbornly but he would not listen. Yi Yangwon was inside the walls, and hearing that the force at the Han River had already scattered he knew the walls could not be held, and fled to Yangju as well.

Won Ho (元豪), an auxiliary commander of Gangwon Province, at the first led some hundreds of troops and held the northern bank at Yeoju and stood against the enemy, so that the enemy could not cross for some days. Presently Yu Yeonggil (柳永吉), the inspector of Gangwon Province, called Won Ho back to his own province by written order. The enemy pulled down the villages and the people's houses and the public buildings and took their timbers and joined them into long rafts and crossed, and those who drifted away and died in the midst of the water were very many. But Won Ho had already gone and there was not one man to hold the riverside, so over several days they all crossed. Thereupon the enemy's forces of the three roads all came into the capital; and the people inside the walls had already scattered before, so that not one man was there.

After Kim Myeongwon lost the Han River he would have gone to the temporary court, and coming to the Imjin he reported the case by dispatch; so the troops of Gyeonggi and Hwanghae were levied again to hold the Imjin, and Sin Hal was ordered to hold it with him and block the road by which the enemy would come down westward.

On this day the carriage left Gaeseong and lodged at Geumgyo Station. Though I had been dismissed I dared not fall behind, and followed along.

On the fourth day the carriage passed Heungui, Geumam, and Pyeongsan and lodged at Bosan Station. When we first came out of Gaeseong, in the suddenness of the hour the spirit tablets of the Royal Ancestral Shrine were left behind at the Mokcheongjeon; and one of the royal kinsmen cried out weeping and reported that the tablets must not be left where the enemy were, and so men galloped through the night to Gaeseong and bore them back, they say.

On the fifth day the carriage passed Anseong, Yongcheon, and Geomsu Station and lodged in Bongsan district; on the sixth it went on and lodged at Hwangju; and on the seventh it passed Junghwa and entered Pyeongyang.

The forces of the inspectors of the three provinces crumbled at Yongin.

At the first Yi Gwang, the inspector of Jeolla Province, was leading his province's troops in to the aid of the king, when he heard that the royal carriage had gone westward and the capital had already fallen, and drew in his troops and went back to Jeonju. The men of the province blamed Yi Gwang for coming back without even fighting, and many were indignant and aggrieved, so that Yi Gwang was not easy in himself and levied troops again. He joined forces with Yun Gukhyeong (尹國馨), inspector of Chungcheong Province, and advanced; and Kim Su, the inspector of Gyeongsang, also came and joined them with some tens of officers from his province, so that the troops were more than fifty thousand in all.

Coming to Yongin they looked out and saw that there was a small enemy rampart on top of Bukdumun Mountain. Yi Gwang made light of it and first had the brave men Baek Gwangeon (白光彥) and Yi Sirye (李時禮) and the rest go and sound the enemy out. Gwangeon and the rest led the van and went up the hill, and at some ten paces from the enemy's rampart they got down from their horses and shot their bows, but the enemy did not come out. As the day drew in, the enemy, seeing that the minds of Gwangeon and the rest were a little loosened, drew their naked blades and charged with a great shout; and Gwangeon and the rest in their haste sought their horses and would have fled, but could not reach them and were all killed by the enemy. The several forces heard this and were startled and afraid.

At that time the three inspectors were all men of letters and not practiced in the business of war, so that though the number of troops was great their commands were not made one, and they did not hold the steep places and make ready either; and it was truly what a man of old called "the army's going as though on a spring outing." How then should they not be beaten?

The next day the enemy, knowing that the hearts of our troops were afraid, had a few men swing their swords and sell their valor and come forward; and the troops of the three provinces looked at them and crumbled utterly, with a sound as of hills falling. The supplies and gear (器械) they threw down blocked the road beyond counting so that men could not pass. The enemy gathered it all and burnt it. Yi Gwang went back to Jeolla Province, Gukhyeong to Gongju, and Kim Su to the right circuit of Gyeongsang.

Sin Gak (申恪), the vice commander-in-chief, fought the enemy at Yangju and won, cutting off more than sixty heads; and a royal messenger was sent and he was beheaded then and there in his camp.

Sin Gak at the first had followed Kim Myeongwon as vice commander-in-chief, and when the Han River crumbled he did not follow Myeongwon but followed Yi Yangwon to Yangju. At that time the troops of Yi Hon (李渾), army commander of South Hamgyeong, happened to arrive, and Sin Gak joined forces with him; and meeting the enemy who had come out of the capital and were scattering and plundering the villages, they met and struck them and broke them. Since the Wa came into our country this was the first victory, and men all leapt for joy.

Kim Myeongwon, being at the Imjin, reported in a dispatch that "Sin Gak of his own will went elsewhere and did not follow commands," and Yu Hong, the Right State Councillor, at once asked that he be put to death. After the royal messenger had gone, the report of the victory arrived, and the court sent a man to overtake him and stop it, but he did not reach him in time.

Sin Gak, though a military man, was clean and careful by nature. He had once been prefect of Yeonan and had put the walls in order and dug the moat and made much war gear ready; so when Yi Jeongam (李廷馣) afterward held Yeonan and kept the walls whole, men said it was Sin Gak's merit. His death was not for his guilt, and he had besides a mother of ninety years; so there was none who heard it and was not pained.

Han Eungin (韓應寅), a senior officer, was sent to lead three thousand picked troops from along the river in Pyeongan Province and go to the Imjin and strike the enemy, with orders not to come under Kim Myeongwon's command. At that time Eungin had gone to the capital and had just come back, and Left Councillor Yun said to the others, "This man has a look of good fortune in his face and will surely accomplish the business"; and so he was sent at last.

The forces of Han Eungin and Kim Myeongwon crumbled at the Imjin, and the enemy crossed the river.

At the first Kim Myeongwon was north of the Imjin and gave the several forces their charges and had them set out and hold the river fords, and gathered the boats in the river and put them all on the northern bank. The enemy camped south of the Imjin but had no boats to cross in, and only sent out raiding troops and fought with the river between them; and after more than ten days of standing against one another the enemy still could not cross.

One day the enemy burnt the huts along the river and struck their tents and loaded their war gear and made a show of withdrawing and fleeing, to lure our troops. Sin Hal was swift by nature but without plans, and thinking the enemy were truly fleeing he would cross the river and pursue them. Gwon Jing, the governor of Gyeonggi, was of one mind with Sin Hal, and Myeongwon could not stop them. On this day Eungin too arrived and was about to lead out all his troops and pursue the enemy.

Those whom Eungin led were all stout troops from along the river who, being near the northern barbarians, knew the shapes of battle thoroughly. They told Eungin:

"The troops have come far and are spent and have not yet eaten, and the arms are not in order and the troops behind have not all arrived. Besides, we cannot know whether the enemy are in earnest or feigning; we beg you rest a little and tomorrow look to the case and then advance and fight."

Eungin beheaded a few men for hanging back. Myeongwon, since Eungin had newly come down from the court and there was besides an order that he not come under his command, dared not speak, though he knew it was not right.

Yu Geungnyang, a detached commander, was great in years and practiced in war, and he said with all his strength that they must not advance lightly; and Sin Hal would have beheaded him. Geungnyang said:

"Since I bound up my hair I have followed the army; how should I harbor a mind to avoid death? The reason I say this and that is only that I fear the country's business will be spoiled."

Indignant, he went out and led his own men and crossed first. Our troops had already entered steep ground when the enemy, who had indeed hidden picked troops behind the hill, rose all at once, and the several forces fled and crumbled. Geungnyang got down from his horse and sat on the ground and said:

"This is the place where I shall die."

He drew his bow and shot a few of the enemy and was killed by them. Sin Hal died too.

The troops fled and reached the river bank but could not cross, and threw themselves into the river from the rocks like tangled leaves blown on the wind; and those who could not leap into the river in time the enemy cut down from behind with their long swords, and all bowed down and took the blade and none dared resist. Myeongwon and Eungin looked on from north of the river and lost their spirit.

Bak Chunggan, Lord of Sangsan, happened to be in the camp and rode off and fled first, and the others saw him and took him for Myeongwon and all cried out, "The commander-in-chief has gone." The troops holding the fords answered to that cry and all scattered. Myeongwon and Eungin went back to the temporary court, but the court did not call them to account. Gwon Jing, the governor of Gyeonggi, went into Gapyeong district and escaped the disorder. The enemy then rode the force of their victory and came down westward, and there was no stopping them again.

The enemy troops entered Hamgyeong Province, and the two princes fell among the enemy; and the officials who had followed them, Kim Gwiyeong, Hwang Jeongwuk, and Hwang Hyeok, and Yu Yeongnip (柳永立), the governor of that province, and Han Geukham (韓克諴), the army commander of the north, and the rest were all taken captive. Yi Hon, the army commander of the south, fled to Gapsan and was killed by our own people, and the districts of the southern and northern circuits all fell to the enemy.

One Ham Jeongho (咸廷虎), an interpreter of Japanese, was in the capital and was seized by the enemy commander Kiyomasa (淸正), and went with Kiyomasa into the northern circuit, and after the enemy withdrew he escaped back to the capital; and he saw me and told me of the affairs of the northern circuit in fair detail.

Kiyomasa was the more swift and fierce among the enemy commanders and fought well. With Hira Yukinaga he crossed the Imjin and came to Anseong Station in Hwanghae Province and planned to strike two provinces in division; and as they could not settle by discussion which each should head for, the two enemies drew lots, and Yukinaga got Pyeongan Province and Kiyomasa Hamgyeong Province. Thereupon Kiyomasa seized two men of the people living at Anseong to guide his road, and the two men excused themselves, saying they were born and bred in that place and did not know the northern road. Kiyomasa at once beheaded one of them, and the one left took fright and asked to lead the way. From the land of Goksan they crossed Nori Pass and came out north of Cheollyeong, going some hundreds of li in a day, and their force was like wind and rain.

Han Geukham, the army commander of the northern circuit, led the troops of the Six Garrisons (六鎭) and met them at Haejeongchang. The troops of the northern circuit were good at riding and shooting, and the ground too was flat and broad, so that they came out by turns to left and right and shot as they galloped; and the enemy could not hold and drew back into the storehouse. The day was already drawing in then, and the troops wished to rest a little and wait for the enemy to come out and fight again the next day; but Geukham would not have it and drove his troops on and ringed them. The enemy brought out the sacks of grain in the storehouse and set them out for a wall and sheltered from the arrows and stones, and from within it fired their muskets in numbers. Our troops were ranged like the teeth of a comb and packed as though bound in layers, so that whoever was struck was surely pierced through, and sometimes three or four died of one ball. The troops then crumbled.

Geukham drew in his troops and withdrew to the top of a pass and camped, meaning to fight again at daybreak; but in the night the enemy moved quietly and ringed our troops and lay scattered among the grass. In the morning a great fog came down and our troops still supposed the enemy to be at the foot of the hill, when suddenly there was a single sound of a gun and from all four sides they shouted and sprang up, and they were all enemy troops. The troops then were startled and crumbled, and commanders and soldiers fled toward where there were no enemy and all sank in the marsh. The enemy came after them and mowed them like grass, and the dead were beyond counting. Geukham fled to Gyeongseong and was taken captive at last.

The two princes, Prince Imhae and Prince Sunhwa, both came to Hoeryeong. In general Prince Sunhwa had been in Gangwon Province at the first, and when the enemy troops came into Gangwon Province he moved on into the northern circuit. Now the enemy pursued the princes to the end, and Guk Gyeongin (鞠景仁), a clerk of Hoeryeong, led his fellows in treason and first bound the princes and the officials who had followed them, and received the enemy. The enemy commander Kiyomasa loosed their bonds and kept them in his camp, and went back to Hamheung and camped.

Yun Takyeon, Lord of Chilgye, alone made illness his excuse on the road and went by another way deep into Byeolhaebo, and Yi Gi, a deputy director, did not follow the princes but stayed in Gangwon Province, and both escaped being taken. Yu Yeongnip was shut up among the enemy for some days, but as the enemy held him to be an official of letters their blocking and guarding was a little slack, and Yeongnip took the opening and got away and fled back to the temporary court.

Yi Il came to Pyeongyang.

After his defeat at Chungju Yi Il crossed the river and went into the borders of Gangwon Province, and after moving hither and thither he came to the temporary court. At that time the several commanders had gone down south from the capital and some had fled and some had died, so that there was not one man to guard the carriage; and hearing that the enemy would soon arrive, the hearts of men feared the more. Yi Il had a weighty name of old among the military commanders, so that even as the remnant of a beaten and fleeing force there was none who did not rejoice to hear that he was coming.

Yi Il, having been beaten more than once and having lived hidden among the thorn brakes, came wearing a plain bamboo hat (平凉子) and a white hempen jacket and straw sandals, and his look was haggard, so that those who saw him sighed. I said:

"The men of this place would lean upon you and hold you of weight, and yet you are wasted and withered like this; with what will you comfort the multitude?"

I searched my baggage and found an indigo silk cheollik coat (帖裏) and gave it to him; and thereupon the several ministers gave him, one a horsehair hat (騣笠) and one a silver crown ornament (銀頂子) and colored hat strings, and he was changed on the spot, so that his dress was wholly new. Only there was none to take off his shoes and give them, so he still wore the straw sandals. I laughed and said:

"Silk clothes and straw sandals do not match each other."

Those who were by all laughed.

Presently Im Ukgyeong (任旭景), a local soldier of Byeokdong, came and told that the enemy had already reached Bongsan. I said to State Councillor Yun:

"The enemy's scouts must already have come beyond the river. Hereabouts, below the Yeonggwi Pavilion, the river water parts into two, and the water is shallow and may be forded. If the enemy get one of our people to guide the road and cross in secret and arrive suddenly, the walls are in peril. Why not send Yi Il in haste to hold the shallow ford and guard against what is unlooked for?"

Lord Yun said it was right, and sent Yi Il at once. At that time the troops of Gangwon Province whom Yi Il led were barely some tens, so other troops were added to him; and Yi Il sat at the Hamgu Gate counting his troops and did not set out at once. Thinking the matter urgent, I sent a man to look, and he was still above the gate. Only after I spoke again to Lord Yun and had him pressed did Yi Il set out at last.

After he went out of the walls there was none to point out the road, and he wrongly headed toward Gangseo; but meeting Kim Naeyun (金乃胤), head of the local council of Pyeongyang, who was coming from outside, he asked him and set him in front, and galloped down to below Mangyeongdae, barely some ten li from the walls. Looking at the southern bank of the river, the enemy troops that had come and gathered were already some hundreds, and the people who lived on a small island in the middle of the river were crying out in alarm and scattering and fleeing. Yi Il hurriedly ordered some ten fighting men to go into the island and shoot; but the troops were afraid and did not go forward at once, and only after Yi Il drew his sword and would have cut them down did they go. The enemy were already in the midst of the water and many had come near the bank, and our troops shot in haste with strong bows and killed six or seven one after another, so that the enemy withdrew at last. Yi Il stayed on and held the ford.

The Liaodong Regional Military Commission (遼東都司) sent Lin Shilu (林世祿), a garrison officer (鎭撫), to look into the true state of the Wa, and the sovereign received him at the Daedong Guest House (大同館).

I had been dismissed in the fifth month and was taken into office again on the first day of the sixth month, and on this day I received the command and entertained the Ming officer. At that time in Liaodong they had heard that the Wa had invaded our country, and not long after heard too that the capital could not be held and the carriage had moved westward; and presently, hearing that the Wa soldiers had already reached Pyeongyang, they were much in doubt. They said that urgent as the Wa upheaval might be it could not be so sudden as this, and some even said that our country had become the Wa's forerunner.

When Shilu came I went up with him to the Yeongwang Pavilion (練光亭) and looked out at how things stood. One Wa was seen and hidden by turns among the woods east of the river; and presently two or three Wa came out one after another and sat or stood, and their manner and look were at ease, as though they were resting on a journey. I pointed them out to Shilu and said:

"These are the Wa's scouts."

Shilu leaned on the pillar and looked, and with a look of no great belief he said:

"How are the Wa soldiers so few?"

I said:

"The Wa are artful and full of deceits, and though a great force be behind them, those who come first to spy are no more than a few. If one sees how few they are and makes light of it, one will surely fall into the enemy's scheme."

Shilu said it was so, and asked in haste for an answering dispatch and hurried away.

Yun Dusu, the Left State Councillor, was ordered to hold Pyeongyang with Kim Myeongwon the commander-in-chief and Yi Wonik the inspector and the rest. Some days before, the people inside the walls, hearing that the carriage would go out and withdraw, had each fled and scattered until the lanes were all but empty. The sovereign ordered the crown prince to go out to the gate of the Daedong Guest House and gather the elders of the town and admonish them of the purpose to hold fast; and the elders came forward and said:

"To hear the Eastern Palace's command alone does not win the people's trust. The sovereign himself must admonish us before it can be done."

The next day the sovereign of necessity came out to the gate of the guest house and had a royal secretary admonish them as on the day before; and some tens of the elders bowed down and wailed and received the command and withdrew. Then they went out each in his own quarter and called men together, and drove in all the old and the young, men and women and their sons, who had been hiding in the mountain valleys, and brought them into the walls, so that the town was filled.

When the enemy showed themselves on the bank of the Daedong, the minister No Jik (盧稷) and the rest bore the spirit tablets of the Royal Ancestral Shrine and the altars of state and went out ahead, escorting the palace women as well. Thereupon the clerks and people inside the walls rose in riot and drew their swords and barred the road and struck wildly, and let the spirit tablets of the shrine and the altars fall in the middle of the road, and pointed at the ministers who followed and reproved them loudly:

"Have you, who in ordinary times stole and ate the country's pay, now spoiled the country and deceived the people like this?"

As I went from the Yeongwang Pavilion to the temporary palace I saw women and children on the road, and all their hair stood up in anger as they cried out to one another:

"If you meant to abandon the walls already, for what cause did you deceive us and bring us into the walls and leave us alone to be meat in the enemy's hands?"

When I came to the palace gate the rioting people filled the street, and all had bared their arms and taken up weapons, and struck whomever they met, so that the noise and tangle could not be checked. The several ministers who were in the court hall inside the gate had all lost the color of their faces and stood up in the middle of the courtyard. Fearing that the rioting people would come in at the palace gate, I went out and stood on the stone steps outside it; and seeing among them one great in years and with a full beard I called him with my hand, and the man came at once. He was a local officer (土官), a man of that place who held office there. I admonished him:

"You would hold the walls with all your strength and do not wish the carriage to leave them, and your loyalty for the country is utter. Only, you have thereby risen in riot and have come to startle and disorder the palace gate, and the matter is most alarming. Besides, the court is even now reporting and asking that it be held fast, and the sovereign has already consented; for what cause do you do this? Looking at your bearing, you are a man who has understanding. You must admonish the many with this intent and make them withdraw. If not, you will fall into heavy guilt and will not be pardoned."

The man at once threw down his club and joined his hands and said:

"We small folk, hearing that the walls were to be abandoned, could not master our indignant spirit and moved wildly thus. Now, hearing these words, though this small man is dull and mean, his breast has grown clear at once."

Then he stirred the crowd about and sent them scattering away.

In general, before this, the officials of the court, hearing that the enemy troops would soon draw near, had all asked that we go out and withdraw, and the Censorate, the Office of Censors, and the Hall of Worthies lay prostrate at the inner gate day by day urging it; and Jeong Cheol, Lord of Inseong, was the keenest in leading the argument for withdrawing. I said:

"The case of affairs today differs from when we were in the capital before. In the capital the troops and the people had crumbled and scattered, so that though one wished to hold it there was nothing to go upon; but these walls are blocked in front by the river, and the hearts of the people are rather firm, and it is near the land of China besides. If we hold fast some days, the Ming troops will surely come to our relief, and leaning on that we may yet drive the enemy off. If not, then from here to Uiju there is no ground that can be held again, and the case will surely come to the perishing of the country."

Yun Dusu, the Left State Councillor, was of the same argument as I. I also put it to Jeong Cheol:

"In ordinary times I always held that Your Excellency was lofty of spirit and did not shrink from the hard or the easy; I did not think your argument today would be like this."

When State Councillor Yun recited the line of Wenshan (文山), "I would borrow a sword and behead the flattering ministers," the Lord of Inseong was greatly angered and shook his sleeves and rose.

The people of Pyeongyang too had heard that it was I who put forward the argument to hold, and so on this day they heard my words and withdrew rather obediently. In the evening Song Eonsin (宋言愼), the governor, was called and reproved for not having quieted the rioting people; and Eonsin picked out the three who had led them and beheaded them inside the Daedong Gate, and the rest all scattered away.

By then it had already been settled to go out of the walls, but it was not known where to go. Many among the officials of the court said that the northern circuit was remote in its land and steep in its roads and fit for escaping the troops. In general by this time the enemy troops had already invaded Hamgyeong Province, but the roads did not pass and there was none to report the upheaval, so the court did not know it. Thereupon Yi Hideuk (李希得), a deputy director, was made inspector of Hamgyeong Province, since he had once been prefect of Yeongheung and governed with kindness and won the hearts of the people; and Kim Uiwon (金義元), a section officer of the Ministry of War, was made his aide, and they were to go to the northern circuit. And the queen and the palace consorts and those below them went out first and headed north. Your servant argued it stubbornly and reported:

"That the carriage made its progress westward was from the first in order to lean upon the Ming troops and plan a rising again. Now that troops have already been asked of the Celestial Court, if instead we go deep into the northern circuit, the enemy troops will lie athwart the middle so that there will be no way even to pass word to the Celestial Court; how much less may we hope for recovery? Besides, the enemy have come out scattered through the several provinces; how should we know that there are surely no enemy troops in the northern circuit? If unhappily we have already gone in there and the enemy troops arrive behind us, there will be no road elsewhere to go and only the northern barbarians will be there; on what place shall we then lean? Would not the peril and the straits be grievous indeed? Now many of the households of the officials of the court have escaped the disorder into the northern circuit, and so each, looking to his private plan, says that heading north is the better. Your servant too has an old mother, and she too, they say, has gone out eastward to escape the disorder; and though I do not know where she is, she must surely have drifted somewhere between Gangwon and Hamgyeong. If your servant too spoke by his private plan, how should he have no feeling of wishing to head north? Only, the great plan of the state is not the same as the private concern of one who is another's subject, and so he dares to report thus earnestly."

And his throat closed and he shed tears. The sovereign took pity and said:

"Where is your mother? It is because of me."

After I withdrew, Han Jun (韓準), a senior officer, also asked to be received alone and said with all his strength that heading north was the better; and thereupon the queen headed for Hamgyeong Province at last.

By then the enemy had been at the Daedong three days. We were at the Yeongwang Pavilion and looked across and saw one Wa who had tied a small paper to the tip of a branch and set it up on the river sand, and we had Kim Saengnyeo (金生麗), a gunner, row a small boat over and bring it. The Wa carried no weapon and took Saengnyeo by the hand and patted his back and made a great show of friendliness, and gave him the writing to take. When the writing came, State Councillor Yun would not open and read it, and I said:

"What harm in opening and reading it?"

On opening it, the outside said, "Presented to His Excellency Lord Yi, Minister of Rites of the country of Joseon"; and it was in general a letter to Yi Deokhyeong, drawn up by Hira Shigenobu and Genso. The gist of it was that they wished to meet Deokhyeong and discuss peace.

Deokhyeong met Hira Shigenobu and Genso in mid-river in a small boat, and they comforted one another and asked after one another as in ordinary times. Genso said:

"Japan would have borrowed a road and sent tribute to China, and Joseon would not allow it, and so the matter has come to this. If even now you lend us one strip of road and let Japan reach China, there will be no trouble."

Deokhyeong reproved them for having broken their covenant and told them to discuss peace after withdrawing their troops; and the words of Shigenobu and the rest were rather less than respectful. So they parted each his own way. In the evening some thousands of the enemy camped on the eastern bank of the river.

On the eleventh day of the sixth month the carriage left Pyeongyang and headed for Yeongbyeon. The great ministers Choe Heungwon, Yu Hong, Jeong Cheol, and the rest went in the escort, while Yun Dusu the Left State Councillor, Kim the commander-in-chief, and Yi Wonik the inspector stayed to hold Pyeongyang; and I too stayed, on the business of entertaining the Ming officers.

On this day the enemy struck the walls. The Left State Councillor, the commander-in-chief, the inspector, and I were at the Yeongwang Pavilion; and Song Eonsin, the governor of the province, held the gate tower of the Daedong wall, the army commander Yi Yundeok (李潤德) held the river ford above the Bubyeok Pavilion (浮碧樓), and Yun Yuhu (尹裕後), magistrate of Jasan, and the rest held the Janggyeong Gate. The soldiers and people and laborers inside the walls together, three or four thousand, were divided among the parapets; but the ranks were not clear, so that the men on the walls were in places thin and in places thick, and here there were men above men, shoulder and back touching, while there whole stretches of parapet ran on without one man. Among the pine woods near Eulmildae clothes were hung up scattered to serve as dummy troops.

Looking at the enemy troops across the river, they too were not so very many. On the slope of Dongdaewon they camped in a single line and set up red and white banners like our country's funeral banners. Some ten horsemen headed toward Yanggakdo and went into the river until the water came to their horses' bellies, and all held their reins and stood in a row and made a show as though they would cross the river. The rest who went up and down the river were now one or two, now three or four, and bore great swords on their shoulders that flashed in the sunlight like lightning. Some said they were not real swords but made of wood and coated with white wax to dazzle men's eyes; but it was far off and could not be told.

Again, six or seven of the enemy came to the riverside with muskets and fired toward the walls, and the sound was very loud and the balls passed the river and came into the walls, the farthest going into the Daedong Guest House and falling scattered on the tiles — near a thousand paces and more; and some struck the pillars of the wall tower and lodged some inches deep. One of the enemy in red clothes, seeing the several lords sitting together on the Yeongwang Pavilion, knew them for commanders, and with his musket under his arm he came on little by little, looking sidelong, until he reached the sand bar and fired; and two men on the pavilion were struck, but it was far and they were not greatly hurt. I had the officer Kang Saik (姜士益) shoot short arrows (片箭) from behind a shield, and when the arrows reached as far as the sand the enemy hung back and withdrew.

The commander-in-chief picked good archers and had them take a fast boat and shoot the enemy from the midst of the water; and when the boat came a little near the eastern bank the enemy too drew back and avoided it. Our troops fired a hyeonja gun (玄字銃) from the boat, and the fire arrow was like a rafter, and when it passed over the river the host of the Wa looked up and all cried out and scattered; and when the arrow fell to the ground they vied in gathering to look at it. On this day a clerk of the works office (工房) was beheaded for not having the boats in order in time.

At that time it had not rained for long and the river water fell by the day. Ministers had been sent out separately to pray for rain at the shrines of Dangun, Gija, and King Dongmyeong, but still it did not rain. I said to State Councillor Yun:

"Here the water is deep and there are no boats, so the enemy will not cross in the end; only upstream there are many shallow fords, and before long the enemy will surely cross by them. If they cross, the walls cannot be held; why not make ready strictly?"

Kim the commander-in-chief was easy by nature and only said, "Yi Yundeok has already been ordered to hold them." I said:

"How is such a man as Yundeok to be trusted?"

And pointing at Yi the inspector I said:

"That you lords sit gathered in one place like a feast party is no help to the business; will you not go and hold the river fords?"

Lord Yi said:

"If I am bidden go and look to it, how should I dare not give my strength?"

Thereupon State Councillor Yun said to Lord Yi, "Then let Your Excellency go," and Lord Yi rose and went out. At that time I was under command only to receive and answer the Ming officers and had no part in military affairs, so I thought in silence that we must surely be beaten, and judged that it was better to go and meet the Ming commanders halfway and get them to come on even one step the sooner.

As the day drew in I went out of the walls at last with my aides Hong Jongnok (洪宗祿) and Sin Gyeongjin, and when the night was deep we reached Sunan. On the road we met Kim Jeongmok (金廷睦), Yi Yangwon's aide, coming from Hoeyang, and heard that the enemy troops had reached Cheollyeong. The next day we passed Sukcheon and came to Anju, where Lin Shilu, the garrison officer from Liaodong, had come again; so I received him and took his dispatch and sent it to the temporary court.

The following day, hearing that the carriage had already left Yeongbyeon and was lodging at Bakcheon, I hurried to Bakcheon and was received; and the sovereign came out to the east hall and received your servant and asked:

"Can Pyeongyang be held?"

Your servant answered:

"The hearts of the people are rather firm and it seems it can be held. Only, the relief troops cannot but come on quickly, and for this your servant meant to come and meet the Ming troops and ask them to hurry to our rescue; but to this day he has seen no troops arrive, and by this he is troubled."

The sovereign took up Yun Dusu's dispatch with his own hand and showed it to your servant and said:

"It says that yesterday the old and the weak were already sent outside the walls; the hearts of the people must surely be shaken, so how can it be held?"

Your servant answered:

"It is truly as the sovereign fears. While your servant was there he did not see this done. In general, looking at how things stand there, the enemy will surely cross by the shallow fords, and it is fitting to lay many caltrops in the water and so make ready."

The sovereign had it asked whether there were caltrops in this district too, and it was answered that there were several thousand. The sovereign said:

"Gather men in haste and send them to Pyeongyang."

Your servant also reported:

"West of Pyeongyang the districts of Gangseo, Yonggang, Jeungsan, Hamjong, and the rest have much grain in their storehouses and many people; and if they hear that the enemy troops have already come near they will surely be startled and scatter. It would be well to send one attendant hurrying from here in haste to settle them, and to gather troops besides as a following relief for Pyeongyang."

When the sovereign said, "Who is fit to go?" I answered:

"Yi Yujing (李幼澄), a section director of the Ministry of War, has plans and thought and is fit to be sent."

I reported also:

"Your servant's business is urgent and cannot be delayed; he will ride through the night and make it his term to meet the Ming commanders."

So I took my leave and withdrew, and saw Yi Yujing and told him what I had reported before the sovereign; and Yujing was startled and said:

"That place is the enemy's lair; how should I go there?"

I reproved him and said:

"To eat the pay and not shun hardship is the subject's righteousness. Now the country's business is in such peril that even boiling water and fire cannot be shunned; and do you make difficulty of this one journey?"

Yujing kept silent, with a look of resentment.

I took my leave and came out, and reached the bank of the Daejeonggang when the sun had already gone west. Looking back at the fields of Gwangtongwon, scattered soldiers were coming one after another, and I feared that Pyeongyang had not been held, so I sent some officers hurrying to gather them, and they brought in nineteen men. They were troops of Uiju and Yongcheon and such places who had gone to Pyeongyang and held the river fords, and they said that yesterday the enemy had already crossed the river at Wangseongtan and the troops along the river had crumbled and the army commander Yi Yundeok had fled. I was greatly startled and at once wrote a letter on the road and sent the officer Choe Yunwon (崔允元) hurrying to the temporary court to make it known, and at night I went into Gasan district.

That evening the queen came to Bakcheon. In general she had heard on the road that the enemy troops had already entered the northern circuit, and so could not go forward and came back. Jeong Gu (鄭逑), magistrate of Tongcheon, sent men and offered provisions.

Pyeongyang fell, and the carriage lodged at Gasan. The Eastern Palace bore the spirit tablets of the Royal Ancestral Shrine and the altars of state and went from Bakcheon into the mountain districts.

At the first the enemy troops had been quartered in divisions on the river sand, making some ten camps and weaving grass into shelters; and as they had not crossed the river for many days their watch grew rather slack. Kim Myeongwon and the rest looked out from the walls and said that they might be fallen upon suddenly by night, and picked out troops and had Go Eonbaek (高彥伯) and the rest lead them, and ferried the troops over quietly by boat at the Nungnado ford below the Bubyeok Pavilion. They had covenanted at first to begin the business at the third watch, but they lost the hour and it was already dawn when they had crossed.

Seeing that the enemy in the several shelters had not yet risen, they went forward and fell upon the first camp, and the enemy were startled and in a stir, and our troops shot and killed many of them. Im Ukgyeong, the local soldier, went up first and fought with all his strength and was killed by the enemy. More than three hundred of the enemy's horses were taken. Presently the enemy of the camps in line all rose and came on in force, and our troops withdrew and fled and ran back to the boats; and the men on the boats, seeing that the enemy had already come up behind, dared not bring the boats in and stayed in mid-water, so that those who fell into the water and drowned were very many. The troops that were left crossed the water again in disorder at Wangseongtan. The enemy learned then for the first time that the water was shallow and could be forded.

Toward dusk on this day the enemy raised their host and crossed by the ford, and our troops who held the ford dared not shoot a single arrow and all scattered and fled. Even after crossing, the enemy still suspected there might be preparation inside the walls and hung back and did not advance.

That night Yun Dusu and Kim Myeongwon opened the gates and sent out all the people inside the walls, and sank the war gear and the cannon in the pond of the Pungwol Pavilion (風月樓). Dusu and the rest went out by the Botong Gate and came to Sunan, and no enemy pursued them. Only Kim Sinwon (金信元), an aide, went out alone by the Daedong Gate and took a boat and headed down the water for Gangseo.

The next day the enemy came outside the walls and went up Moranbong and looked out a good while, and only after they knew the walls were empty and without men did they enter.

At the first, when the carriage came to Pyeongyang, the counsels of the court were all anxious about army grain, and the land taxes of the several districts were all gathered and carried to Pyeongyang; and when the walls fell, these together with the grain already in the storehouses, more than a hundred thousand seom in all, became the enemy's.

At that time my dispatch reached Bakcheon, and Yi Wonik the inspector and Yi Homin (李好閔) his aide also came from Pyeongyang and told of the enemy's crossing the river. At night the carriage and the queen set out and headed for Gasan. The crown prince was ordered to bear the spirit tablets of the shrine and the altars and go apart by another road and call the four quarters together and plan a rising again, and officials were divided to go with him; and Choe Heungwon, the Chief State Councillor, received the command and followed the crown prince. Yu Hong, the Right State Councillor, also asked of himself to follow the crown prince, but the sovereign did not answer. When the carriage had already set out, Yu Hong prostrated himself beside the road and took his leave and went; and the eunuchs reported several times, "Yu Hong, the Right State Councillor, asks leave to depart," but the sovereign in the end did not answer. Yu Hong then followed the Eastern Palace.

At that time Yun Dusu was at Pyeongyang and had not yet come back, so there was no great minister at the temporary court, and only Jeong Cheol, a former state councillor, followed the carriage. When we reached Gasan it was already the fifth watch.

The carriage lodged at Jeongju.

After the carriage left Pyeongyang the hearts of men crumbled, and wherever it passed the rioting people would go into the storehouses and plunder the grain, so that Sunan, Sukcheon, Anju, Yeongbyeon, and Bakcheon all crumbled in their turn.

On this day, as the carriage set out, Sim Singyeom (沈信謙), magistrate of Gasan, said to me:

"This district has grain in fair plenty and the office has besides a thousand seom of white rice, with which we meant to feed the Ming troops; but unhappily matters have come to this. If Your Excellency would stay a little and settle things, the men of the district will not dare to move; if not, there will be a riot, and this small man too dares not stay here but will head for the coast and withdraw."

At that time Sim Singyeom could no longer command his own underlings. There were only the six officers I had brought and the nineteen soldiers I had gathered from the broken troops on the road, whom I had kept in order so that they followed me; and they were at my side, each with his bow and arrows. Sim Singyeom would lean on them and guard himself, and that is why he spoke so.

I could not bear to leave at once and sat a good while at the great gate, and the sun had already passed noon. Then, thinking again that to stay of my own will and not go, without the sovereign's command, was not easy in righteousness, I took leave of Singyeom at last and went. Going up Hyoseong Pass and looking back at Gasan, the district was already in disorder. Singyeom lost all the grain of the storehouse and fled.

The next day the carriage left Jeongju and headed for Seoncheon, and your servant was ordered to stay at Jeongju. The men of the district had already scattered in every direction to escape the disorder, and only an old clerk, Baek Haksong (白鶴松), and a few others were inside the walls. I prostrated myself beside the road and saw the carriage off, and came out of the walls and wiped my tears and sat beneath the Yeonhun Pavilion; and a few officers were below the steps to left and right, and the nineteen soldiers I had gathered had still not gone but tied their horses to the willows by the road and sat round about.

Toward dusk men with clubs were seen coming in one after another from outside the south gate and going off to the left. I had an officer look, and those gathered beneath the storehouse were already some hundreds. I thought that those I led were few and weak, and that if I contended with the rioting people after they had grown more numerous it would be hard to put them down, and it was better to strike them first while they were weak and so startle them into scattering. Looking then at the gate, there were ten and more still coming on behind, so I hurriedly called an officer and had him take the nineteen soldiers and run and seize them. The men looked out and fled, and they pursued and brought back nine; and I had their hair let down and their hands bound behind them and had them stripped and paraded along the road by the storehouse, with the nineteen soldiers following behind and crying loudly:

"We have taken the robbers who would have plundered the storehouse. They will be punished and their heads hung up."

When the people inside the walls saw this, those already gathered beneath the storehouse looked on and were afraid and all scattered away by the west gate. By this the grain of Jeongju's storehouse was barely kept whole, and the robbing of storehouses in Yongcheon, Seoncheon, Cheolsan, and the other districts was brought to an end as well.

Kim Yeongil (金榮一), the administrator of Jeongju, was a military man. He had fled back from Pyeongyang and put his wife and children on the coast, and would have stolen out the grain of the storehouse and sent it to them. I heard of it and reproved him:

"You became a military commander and did not die though your force was beaten, and your guilt deserves the axe; and do you dare besides to steal out the public grain? This grain is to feed the Ming troops and is not yours to make private use of."

And I had him beaten sixty strokes with the rod.

Presently Left Councillor Yun and Kim the commander-in-chief and the military commander Yi Bin (李薲) and the rest all came from Pyeongyang to Jeongju. When the sovereign left Jeongju there had been an order that if the Left Councillor came he too should stay at Jeongju; so when Lord Yun arrived I passed on the sovereign's command, but Lord Yun did not answer and went straight on to the temporary court. I too left Kim Myeongwon and Yi Bin and the rest to hold Jeongju, and overtook the carriage at Yongcheon.

At that time the people of the districts, hearing that Pyeongyang had fallen, thought the enemy would arrive behind and all hid in the mountain valleys, so that not one man was to be seen on the road; and I heard that the several districts along the river, such as Ganggye, were all the same.

Coming beneath the Gwaksan mountain fortress I saw that there was a branching road, and I asked a soldier under me, "Where does this road lead?" and he said, "This is the road to Guseong." I halted my horse and called my aide Hong Jongnok and said:

"The storehouses along the road are all empty, so when the Ming troops come, with what shall they be supplied? Hereabouts only the one district of Guseong has stores in fair plenty, but there too the clerks and people have all scattered and there is said to be no plan for carrying it. You were long in Guseong, and if the men of that place hear that you have come, then even though they hide in the mountain valleys there will surely be those who come to see you and hear how the enemy stand. Go from here in haste to Guseong and admonish them thus: 'The enemy have come into Pyeongyang and have not yet come out, and the Ming troops are just now coming on in force, so the day of recovery is not far. What is feared is only that the army grain along the one road is not ample. Do you, whether titled gentry (品官) or clerks, spend the whole strength of the district and carry the army grain, so that nothing be lacking to the raising of the army. Then hereafter there will surely be heavy reward.' If it be done thus, perhaps they will be of one mind and join their strength and carry it as far as Jeongju and Gasan, and the thing may be accomplished."

Jongnok consented readily and went by the branching road. I headed for Yongcheon. In general Jongnok had been caught in the trial of the Gichuk year and had been in banishment at Guseong, and only after the carriage came to Pyeongyang was he taken into office again as director of the Royal Kitchen Office (司饔正); and he was faithful in his bearing and had a mind to forget himself and follow the country, not choosing between the smooth and the steep.

The carriage reached Uiju.

The Ming officers, Vice Commander Dai (戴) so-and-so and the skirmish general Shi Ru (史儒), were each leading a column toward Pyeongyang, and coming to Imban Station they heard that Pyeongyang had already fallen, and they too came back and stayed at Uiju. The Ming emperor bestowed twenty thousand nyang of silver to feed the troops, and the Ming officials brought it to Uiju.

Before this, when Liaodong heard that there was an upheaval of the enemy in our country it reported it at once; but the counsels of the Ming court were rather at odds, and some even went so far as to suspect that we had become the enemy's forerunner. Only Shi Xing (石星), the Minister of War, was firm in his purpose to relieve us. At that time our envoy Sin Jeom (申點) was at the Yuhe Hostel (玉河館), and the minister called him to the courtyard and brought out and showed him the papers in which Liaodong reported the upheaval; and Sin Jeom cried out and wailed at once, and with his train he wailed aloud morning and evening and first asked for relief troops. The minister reported and had two columns sent out to go and guard the king, and asked besides that silver be bestowed. When Sin Jeom came back as far as Tongzhou, Jeong Gonsu (鄭崑壽), the envoy for reporting the emergency, arrived after him; and the minister drew him into the warm room (火房) and asked him of the case himself, and even shed tears at times, they say.

By this time envoys were sent to Liaodong one after another to tell of our straits and ask for relief troops, and to beg besides that we be taken in and attached to Ming. In general the enemy had already taken Pyeongyang, and the case seemed like pouring a water jar from a roof, so that we thought they would reach the Amnok in a morning or an evening. So urgent was the matter that we would even have attached ourselves to Ming. By good fortune, after the enemy went into Pyeongyang they hid their traces inside the walls and dragged on for some months, and though Sunan and Yeongyu are but a step from Pyeongyang they still did not come and invade. By this the hearts of men were a little settled and the remaining embers were gathered up, and the Ming troops were guided in and received, and in the end the merit of recovery was accomplished. This was truly Heaven's doing and beyond the reach of men's strength.

In the seventh month word came ahead that Zu Chengxun (祖承訓), vice regional commander of Liaodong, was coming to our relief with five thousand troops.

At that time I was suffering from piles and my distress was severe, and I lay and could not rise. When the sovereign ordered the Left State Councillor to manage the army grain along the road, I had my aide Sin Gyeongjin report:

"The only great minister now at the temporary court is Yun Dusu alone, and he cannot be sent out. Your servant has already received the command to entertain the Ming officers, and though ill he can still force himself to it."

The sovereign allowed it. On the seventh day I forced my sick body to the temporary palace to take my leave, and being received I crawled in and reported:

"Along the one road, from Sogot southward to Jeongju and Gasan, food for a day or two can be made ready when five thousand troops pass; but the three districts of Anju, Sukcheon, and Sunan are as though swept clean and have no stores. When the Ming troops pass here they should first carry three days' rations and so provide against the food south of Anju. If the troops reach Pyeongyang and recover it that same day, there is much grain inside the walls and the supply can be kept up; and even if they ring the walls for many days, the grain of the three districts west of Pyeongyang can likewise be carried with all our strength to the front of the camp, so that it will not come to falling short. Let these particulars be discussed between the officials here and the Ming officers, so that plenty and lack may help each other and it be carried out as convenience allows."

The sovereign said, "Let it be so." After I came out he bestowed bear's gall and the winter medicines (臘藥) prepared in the twelfth month. One Yongun (龍雲), a servant of the Royal Pharmacy, saw me off five li beyond the gate of the walls and wailed aloud, and I heard the sound of his weeping until I climbed Jeonmun Pass.

In the evening I reached Sogot Station, and the clerks and soldiers had fled and scattered and not a shadow was to be seen. I had an officer search among the villages and bring in a few men, and I admonished them with all my strength:

"That the country soothed and reared you in ordinary times was to use you today; how can you bear to flee and withdraw? Besides, the Ming troops are just now arriving and the country's business is at its most urgent; this is the very time for you to give your strength and make merit."

And I brought out a blank book and wrote in it the names of those who had come first and showed it to them and said:

"Hereafter I shall grade your merit by this and report it and have rewards determined. Those not in this record will be looked into one by one after affairs are settled and will be punished, and they cannot escape it."

Presently those who came followed one upon another and all said:

"This small man had business and went out for a while; how should he dare shirk his service? We beg that our names be written in the book."

I knew that the hearts of men could be gathered, and at once sent writings round to every place, that as a matter of course a book for looking into merit should be kept, and the greatness or smallness of merit recorded, and that this be passed on and made known and carried out. Thereupon those who heard the command vied in coming out and carried firewood and fodder and put up buildings and set out pots and cauldrons, so that within a few days all the business was little by little made ready. I held that people who had met with disorder could not be handled roughly, and only admonished them with utter sincerity and never beat one man.

Going on to Jeongju, Hong Jongnok had raised all the men of Guseong, and the fodder beans and millet they had carried and brought to Jeongju and Gasan were already more than two thousand seom. I was still anxious about what came after Anju, when as it happened twelve hundred seom of tax rice from the storehouse of Asan in Chungcheong Province, being shipped toward the temporary court, came in at Ibam in Jeongju. I was very glad and at once sent and reported:

"That grain from afar has come in season seems to be Heaven aiding the fortune of our restoration. I beg that it too be taken and added to the army grain."

I had Kang Saung (姜士雄), a gate guard commander, hurry to Ibam and move two hundred seom to Jeongju, two hundred to Gasan, and eight hundred to Anju; but as Anju was near the enemy, the boats were for the present kept lying on the water and made to wait.

Jang Useong (張佑成), garrison commander of Seonsapo, made a floating bridge on the Daejeonggang, and Min Gyejung (閔繼仲), garrison commander of Nogang, made a floating bridge on the Cheongcheon, to make ready for the Ming troops' crossing. I went ahead to Anju and made many things ready. At that time, as the enemy had gone into Pyeongyang and long did not come out, Yi Wonik the inspector and Yi Bin the army commander stayed at Sunan, Kim Myeongwon the commander-in-chief was at Sukcheon, and I was at Anju.

On the nineteenth day Regional Commander Zu's troops struck Pyeongyang but did not win and withdrew, and Skirmish Commander Shi died in the fighting.

Before this, when Zu Chengxun came to Uiju, Shi Ru with his troops was the van. Zu Chengxun was a valorous commander of the left of Liaodong who had fought the northern barbarians more than once and had merit, and he thought that on this march the Wa could surely be taken. Coming to Gasan he asked one of our people:

"Have the enemy at Pyeongyang not already fled?"

When he was told they had not withdrawn, Chengxun raised his cup and looked up to heaven and prayed:

"The enemy are still there; it must be that Heaven would have me accomplish a great deed."

On this day he sent out his troops from Sunan at the third watch and advanced and struck Pyeongyang. As it happened a great rain fell and there were no enemy troops on guard on the walls. The Ming troops entered the walls by the Chilseong Gate, but the roads inside were narrow with many crooked alleys where the horses' hooves could not be stretched out. The enemy, holding the steep and narrow places, fired their muskets wildly, so that Skirmish Commander Shi was struck by a ball and died at once, and many men and horses were killed. Zu Chengxun then drew back his troops, and though the enemy did not press the pursuit, those of the rear who sank in the mire and could not get themselves out were all killed by the enemy.

Chengxun led the troops that were left and came back, and passing Sunan and Sukcheon he reached the outside of Anju's walls in the middle of the night and halted his horse and called the interpreter Bak Uigeom (朴義儉) and said:

"Our troops killed many of the enemy today, but unhappily Skirmish Commander Shi was hurt and died, and the weather too was unfavorable, with great rain turning it to mire, so that we could not destroy the enemy entirely. We shall add troops and advance again; tell your state councillor not to move, and not to take up the floating bridges either."

Having said this, he galloped off and crossed the two rivers and halted his troops at the Gonggang Pavilion. In general Chengxun, having been beaten, had lost heart, and fearing the enemy would pursue he wished to have the two rivers in front of him, and that is why he hurried so.

I sent Aide Sin to comfort him and sent along grain and provisions besides. Chengxun stayed two days at the Gonggang Pavilion, and a great rain fell night and day so that the several forces lay in the open fields and their clothes and armor were all soaked, and they all resented Chengxun. Presently he withdrew and went back to Liaodong. Fearing that the hearts of men would be shaken, I reported and asked leave to stay on at Anju and wait for the troops that should come after.

Yi Sunsin, naval commander of Jeolla, together with Won Gyun, naval commander of the right circuit of Gyeongsang, and Yi Eokgi (李億祺), naval commander of the right circuit of Jeolla, and the rest, broke the enemy troops greatly in the sea off Geoje.

At the first, when the enemy came ashore, Won Gyun saw how great the enemy's strength was and dared not go out and strike, and sank all his hundred and more warships and his cannon and war gear in the sea, and with only his aides Yi Yeongnam (李英男) and Yi Unnyong (李雲龍) and the rest he took four ships and fled to the mouth of the sea at Gonyang, meaning to go ashore and escape the enemy. Thereupon more than ten thousand of the navy crumbled. Yi Yeongnam remonstrated:

"Your Excellency received a command and became naval commander, and if you now abandon your troops and go ashore, with what will you clear yourself when the court hereafter calls you to account? Ask troops of Jeolla Province and try one battle with the enemy; and if you do not win, it will not be too late to flee then."

Won Gyun thought it right and sent Yeongnam to ask help of Sunsin. Sunsin declined, saying that each had his own bounds in charge and that without a command from the court how should he of his own will cross his bounds? Won Gyun sent Yeongnam again to ask, and they went to and fro five or six times and did not leave off; and each time Yeongnam came back, Won Gyun sat at the prow and looked out and wailed.

Presently Sunsin led forty roofed warships (板屋船) and, covenanting with Yi Eokgi as well, came to Geoje and joined forces with Won Gyun and advanced, and met the enemy's ships at Gyeonnaeryang. Sunsin said:

"Here the sea is narrow and the water shallow and it is hard to turn about; it is better to withdraw as a feint and lure the enemy out and fight when we reach the broad sea."

Won Gyun, carried by his indignation, would have advanced and struck at once, and Sunsin said:

"That Your Excellency does not know war so far as this means we shall surely be beaten."

Then he signaled his ships with flags and withdrew, and the enemy were greatly glad and vied in following behind. When they had come out of the narrow mouth Sunsin beat the drum once, and all the ships turned their oars together and ranged themselves in the midst of the sea, so that they came right up against the enemy's ships, some tens of paces apart.

Before this Sunsin had made the turtle ship, covering its top with planks so that its shape was rounded like a turtle, and the fighting men and the rowers were all inside it, with many cannon mounted to left and right and fore and aft. It went to and fro across and along like the shuttle of a loom, and whenever it met an enemy ship it broke it with great cannon one after another. All the ships joined and struck together, and smoke and flame overflowed the sky, and the enemy ships burnt were beyond counting. The enemy commander was in a tower ship two gil and more high, with a pavilion built on top and red silk and colored woolen cloth hung round the outside; and it too was broken by the great cannon. The enemy all fell into the water and drowned.

After this the enemy fought one time after another and were all beaten, and at last fled into Busan and Geoje and came out no more.

One day, as he was urging on the fighting, a stray ball struck Sunsin in the left shoulder and the blood ran down to his heel. Sunsin said nothing, and only after the fighting ended did he cut open the flesh with a knife and take out the ball, which was lodged some inches deep. Those who saw it turned dark in the face, but Sunsin talked and laughed as though at ease.

When word of the victory was made known the court was greatly glad. The sovereign would have added a first-rank office to Sunsin, but those who spoke said it was too much, and he was raised to the rank of upright grand master (正憲大夫), and Eokgi and Won Gyun to the rank of excellent grand master (嘉善大夫).

Before this the enemy commander Hira Yukinaga had come to Pyeongyang and thrown over a writing that said:

"A hundred thousand and more of the Japanese navy are coming by the western sea as well; we do not know where the great king's carriage now means to go."

In general the enemy had meant from the first to join their strength by water and by land and come down westward. Thanks to this one battle the enemy's one arm was cut off, so that though Yukinaga had got Pyeongyang his case was lonely and he dared not advance again. That the country kept Jeolla and Chungcheong Provinces whole, and held even a strip of the coast of Hwanghae and Pyeongan so that army grain could be provided and commands passed and the restoration accomplished; and that Jinzhou, Fuzhou, Haizhou, and Gaizhou in Liaodong and Tianjin and such places suffered no alarm, so that the Ming troops could come by the land road to our relief and drive off the enemy — all this is the merit of this one battle. Alas, how should it not be Heaven?

Sunsin then led the navies of the three provinces and stayed and camped at Hansando, blocking the road by which the enemy would invade westward.

Jo Hoik (曺好益), a former officer of the State Tribunal, gathered troops at Gangdong and struck the enemy.

Hoik was a man of Changwon who had purpose and conduct, but he was falsely accused by another and his whole household was moved to Gangdong. Poor and hard pressed, he got his food by teaching students for near twenty years and more, yet his principle grew the firmer. When the carriage came to Pyeongyang his guilt was pardoned and he was called and made an officer of the State Tribunal.

When Pyeongyang was ringed, Hoik went to Gangdong to gather troops and relieve Pyeongyang; and presently Pyeongyang fell and the troops and people all crumbled, and Hoik came back to the temporary court. I met him at Yangchaek Station and said:

"The Ming troops will soon arrive; do not go to Uiju, but go back to Gangdong and gather men as before, and meet the Ming troops at Pyeongyang and help the army's force."

Hoik followed those words. I then reported the case by dispatch and drew up a document for raising troops and gave it to Hoik, and helped him with war gear besides. Hoik went and gathered troops and got several hundred, and went out to Sangwon and camped and met and struck the enemy and cut down many.

Hoik was a reading scholar and was not practiced in the bow and the horse, but he stirred the hearts of his troops with loyalty and righteousness alone. On the day of the winter solstice he led his troops and looked toward the temporary court and bowed four times and wailed all night, and the whole force shed tears for this.

The enemy troops invaded Jeolla Province, and Jeong Dam (鄭湛), magistrate of Gimje, and Byeon Eungjeong (邊應井), magistrate of Haenam, fought with all their strength and died.

At that time the enemy came from the right circuit of Gyeongsang into the borders of Jeonju, and Jeong Dam and Byeon Eungjeong and the rest blocked them at Ungnyeong. They made a wooden stockade to bar the mountain road and urged on their commanders and troops and fought greatly all day, and the enemy troops they shot and killed were beyond counting. The enemy would have withdrawn, when as it happened the day drew in and the arrows were spent. The enemy advanced and struck again, and the two men both died and the troops then crumbled.

The next day the enemy came to Jeonju and the officials would have fled. Yi Jeongnan (李廷鸞), a former academic officer and a man of Jeonju, went into the walls and led the clerks and the people and held fast. At that time the enemy's best troops had largely been killed at Ungnyeong and their strength was already spent; and the governor Yi Gwang had besides set out dummy troops outside the walls, ranging many banners by day and setting torches thick upon the hills by night. The enemy came beneath the walls and went round them a few times and dared not strike and went away.

They gathered up all the bodies of those who had died fighting at Ungnyeong and buried them beside the road in a few great mounds, and set up wood above them and wrote this:

"We mourn the loyal and righteous souls of the country of Joseon."

In general it was that they held their hard fighting worthy. By this the one province of Jeolla alone was kept whole.

On the first day of the eighth month Yi Wonik the inspector and Yi Bin the frontier commander and the rest led troops forward and struck Pyeongyang, but did not win and withdrew.

At that time Wonik and Yi Bin led some thousands of troops to Sunan, and Kim Eungseo (金應瑞), a detached commander, and the rest led the troops of the four districts of Yonggang, Samhwa, Jeungsan, and Gangseo and made some twenty camps west of Pyeongyang; and Kim Eokchu (金億秋) with the navy was below on the Daedong, so that they made a shape of holding the enemy in check front and rear.

On this day Wonik and the rest moved their troops forward from north of the walls of Pyeongyang and met the enemy's van and shot and hit some twenty of them. Presently the enemy came on in force, and the troops were startled and crumbled, and many of the swift and strong troops from along the river were broken and hurt. They then went back to Sunan and camped.

In the ninth month Shen Weijing (沈惟敬), a Ming skirmish general, came.

At the first, after Zu Chengxun's defeat, the enemy grew the more arrogant and threw a writing over to our troops in which were the words "a flock of sheep striking one tiger"; in general they likened the Ming troops to sheep and boasted of themselves as a tiger. Morning and evening they cried out that they would go down westward, so that the people of Uiju all stood with their packs on their backs.

Weijing was by birth a commoner of Zhejiang, and Minister Shi, holding that he knew the true state of the Wa of old, lent him the title of skirmish general and sent him out. When he reached Sunan he sent a writing hurrying to the Wa commanders, reproving and asking in the emperor's name, "What has Joseon failed of toward Japan, that Japan should raise troops so recklessly?"

At that time the Wa upheaval had broken out suddenly and their harshness and venom were severe, so that every man feared and trembled and none dared spy out their camp. Weijing wrapped the writing in a yellow cloth and had one of his household servants carry it on his back, and rode straight in by the Botong Gate. The Wa commander Yukinaga saw the writing and answered at once, asking to meet face to face and discuss affairs. When Weijing was about to go, men all thought it perilous and many held him back, and Weijing laughed and said:

"How should they harm me?"

He took three or four household servants and went. Yukinaga, Hira Yoshitoshi, and Genso and the rest set out the majesty of arms on a great scale and came out to meet him beneath Gangboksan, ten li beyond the north of the walls. Our troops went up on the ridge of Daeheungsan and looked, and the Wa troops were very many and their swords and spears were like snow. When Weijing got down from his horse and went into the midst of the Wa ranks, the host of the Wa ringed him on all four sides, so that it was wondered whether he had been seized. As the day drew in Weijing came back, and the host of the Wa sent him off most respectfully.

The next day Yukinaga sent a writing asking after him and saying besides:

"That Your Excellency stood amid naked blades and did not change color — even a man of Japan could not do more."

Weijing answered:

"Have you not heard that in Tang there was one called Lord Guo (郭令公), who went alone on horseback into the ten thousand troops of the Uighur and was never afraid? How should I fear you?"

Then he covenanted with the Wa:

"When I go back and report to the emperor there will surely be a disposition, and I make fifty days the term. Let the host of the Wa not come out beyond ten li to the northwest of Pyeongyang and plunder, and let the people of Joseon not go within ten li and fight the Wa."

So wood was set up on the bounds of the ground as a marker of the prohibition, and the people of our country could none of them reckon what it meant.

Sim Dae (沈岱), the governor of Gyeonggi, was fallen upon by the enemy and died at Sangnyeong.

Sim Dae was lofty of spirit by nature, and after meeting with the disorder he was always indignant, and in going and coming on his commissions he did not choose between the smooth and the steep. In the autumn of this year he became governor of Gyeonggi in Gwon Jing's place, and on his way from the temporary court to his post he passed Anju and saw me upon the Baeksang Pavilion. He spoke of the country's hardship with a stirred heart, and seeing his purpose it was that he would himself brave the arrows and stones and contend with the enemy. I warned him:

"Did not a man of old say that in the matter of plowing one should ask the farm servant? You are a reading scholar, and facing the ranks is not in the end what you can do. There at your post is Go Eonbaek, magistrate of Yangju, who is brave and strong and fights well; do you only gather the troops and have Eonbaek lead them, and there will be merit. Be sure not to lead them yourself."

Sim Dae said yes and yes but did not take it so. And seeing besides that he was going alone into the midst of the enemy, I detached a good archer among my officers, one so-and-so of Uiju, to go with him.

In the few months after Sim Dae went, whenever one of the men of Gyeonggi passed Anju on the way to report business to the temporary court, he never failed to send me a writing asking after me. I always asked that man myself how the enemy stood in Gyeonggi and what the governor was doing. They answered:

"The land of Gyeonggi is broken and hurt worse than the other provinces, and the enemy come out day by day and burn and plunder so that no place is clean. The former governors and the magistrates and those below them all followed the deep and remote places and hid, and cut down their trains and went secretly in plain dress, and sometimes moved again and again and did not fix a dwelling, and so warded off the trouble of the enemy; but the present governor is rather unafraid of the enemy, and whenever he goes about he sends word ahead by writing as in ordinary times, and goes with banners raised and horns blowing."

I heard it and was much troubled and sent writings again warning him as before, but Sim Dae did not change.

Presently he gathered troops and led them all himself and cried out that he would recover the capital, and day by day sent men into the walls to call men together and covenant that they should answer from within. The people inside the walls, fearing they would be found guilty after affairs were settled for having gone over to the enemy, put their names one after another and made up documents and came before the governor, and those who said of themselves that they could answer from within were counted at a thousand or a hundred a day. Some said they would hear the covenant, some that they would bring in war gear, some that they would report the enemy's true state, and every man came and went unhindered; and among them were those who had come as the enemy's ears and eyes to watch what was afoot, and they went in and out in numbers and were mingled together. Yet Sim Dae trusted this and did not doubt.

By this time Sim Dae was in Sangnyeong district, and the enemy spied it out and learned of it and crossed Daetan in secret and fell upon him by night. Sim Dae started up and threw on his clothes and fled out, and the enemy pursued and killed him; and the officer surnamed Jang died with him.

After the enemy went, the people of Gyeonggi buried him for the time within Sangnyeong district; and some days later the enemy came out again and took his head and hung it up on the Bell Tower street. For fifty or sixty days together his face was as of a living man, and the people of the capital grieved at his loyalty and righteousness and gathered goods among themselves and gave them to the Wa on guard and bought it out, and put it in a box and sent it to Ganghwa. After the enemy withdrew it was buried with his body back in the hills of his home.

Sim Dae was a man of Cheongsong; his courtesy name was Gongmang (公望), and his son Daebok (大復) was given office by the court on account of Sim Dae's affair and reached the rank of magistrate.

Won Ho, an auxiliary commander of Gangwon Province, struck and crushed the enemy at Gumipo, and afterward fought at Chuncheon and his force was beaten and he died.

At that time the enemy's great camps were at Chungju and Wonju, and their camps ran on in line to the capital. The enemy at Chungju took their road and went to and fro by Juksan, Yangji, and Yongin, and the enemy at Wonju would reach the capital by way of Jipyeong, Yanggeun, Yangju, and Gwangju. Won Ho struck and crushed them at Gumipo in Yeoju; and Byeon Eungseong (邊應星), prefect of Icheon, also loaded archers in boats and took the fog and met and struck the enemy at Matan in Yeoju and killed a fair number of them. By this the enemy's road on the Wonju side was cut off at last and they all went only by the Chungju road; and that the people of Icheon, Yeoju, Yanggeun, Jipyeong, and such districts were spared the enemy's blade, men called Won Ho's merit.

Yu Yeonggil, the inspector, pressed Won Ho again to strike the enemy at Chuncheon. Won Ho, having already won, had rather a mind to make light of the enemy. The enemy knew that Won Ho would come and laid an ambush and waited; and Won Ho, not knowing it, advanced, and the ambush rose and he was killed at last. Thereupon in the one province of Gangwon there was no one to ward off the enemy.

Gwon Eungsu (權應銖), an assistant clerk (副奉事) of the Military Training Agency, and Jeong Daeim (鄭大任) and the rest struck and broke the enemy at Yeongcheon with their district's troops, and so recovered Yeongcheon.

Eungsu was a man of Yeongcheon and had boldness and valor. With Daeim he led more than a thousand of the district's troops and ringed the enemy at Yeongcheon; and as the troops feared the enemy and did not go forward, Eungsu beheaded a few men, whereupon the troops vied in rousing themselves and crossed the wall and went in and struck the enemy in the alleys. The enemy could not win and fled into the storehouse, and some went up on the Myeongwon Pavilion. Our troops struck them with fire, and they all burnt to death and the stench carried some li. Some tens of the enemy who were left fled back to Gyeongju.

From this time the enemy of Sinnyeong, Uiheung, Uiseong, Andong, and such places all gathered onto one road, and the districts of the left circuit could be kept whole; and this was the merit of the one battle at Yeongcheon.

Bak Jin (朴晉), the army commander of the left circuit, recovered Gyeongju.

Bak Jin had at first fled from Miryang into the hills. The court, holding that the former army commander Yi Gak had abandoned his walls and fled, beheaded him where he was and made Bak Jin army commander in his place. At that time the enemy troops filled the land, and word had long not passed between the temporary court and the south, so that the hearts of men were shaken and at a loss; and when they heard that Bak Jin had become army commander, the scattered people gathered little by little and the magistrates too came out now and then from the mountain valleys and attended to business, and men knew for the first time that there was still a court.

When Gwon Eungsu recovered Yeongcheon, Bak Jin led more than ten thousand troops of the left circuit forward and drew near beneath the walls of Gyeongju. The enemy came out secretly by the north gate and fell upon the rear of the troops, and Bak Jin fled back to Angang. At night he had men go and lie hidden beneath the walls and shoot a flying heaven-shaking thunder (飛擊震天雷) into the walls, and it fell in the middle of the courtyard of the guest house. The enemy did not know how it was made and vied in gathering to look at it, rolling it about to see it closely; and presently the shell burst from within, and the sound shook heaven and earth and the iron fragments broke apart like stars. Of those struck down, more than thirty died at once, and even those not struck fell over and rose only after a good while; and they were startled and afraid and could not reckon how it was made, and all called it a marvel.

The next day they raised their host at last and abandoned the walls and fled back to Seosaengpo, and Bak Jin then entered Gyeongju and got more than ten thousand seom of the grain that was left. When the matter was made known, Bak Jin was raised to the rank of excellent grand master and Eungsu to the rank of grand master of communication, and Daeim became magistrate of Yecheon.

Of the heaven-shaking thunder there had been no way of making it from of old, and one Yi Jangson (李長孫), a gunner of the Armory, first made it. When the heaven-shaking thunder is fired from the great mortar (大碗口) it can fly five or six hundred paces and fall to the ground, and after a good while the fire rises within it; and the enemy feared this thing the most.

At that time those who raised righteous troops in the several provinces and struck the enemy were very many.

Those in Jeolla Province were Kim Cheonil (金千鎰), a former judge of the high court, Go Gyeongmyeong (高敬命), a senior assistant, and Choe Gyeonghoe (崔慶會), former prefect of Yeonghae. Cheonil's courtesy name was Sajung (士重), and he led troops and came first to Gyeonggi, and the court held it worthy and gave his force the name Raising Righteousness (倡義); but presently he could not make up his force and went into Ganghwa. Gyeongmyeong's courtesy name was Isun (而順), and he was the son of Maengyeong (孟英) and had talent in letters; he too led his district's troops and sent written orders round the several districts and struck the enemy, and fought the enemy and was beaten and died. His son Jonghu (從厚) led his host in his place and named it the Avenging Army (復讎軍). Gyeonghoe afterward became army commander of the right circuit of Gyeongsang and died at Jinju.

Those in Gyeongsang Province were Gwak Jaeu (郭再祐), a man of Hyeonpung; Kim Myeon (金沔), a former section officer and a man of Goryeong; Jeong Inhong (鄭仁弘), a former inspector and a man of Hapcheon; Kim Hae (金垓), a former academician and a man of Yean; Yu Jonggae (柳宗介), a proofreader (正字) of the Office of Editorial Review; Yi Daegi (李大期), a man of Chogye; and Jang Sajin (張士珍), a school student (校生) of Gunwi. Jaeu was the son of Wol (越) and had a fair share of talent and plan, and he fought the enemy more than once so that the enemy were wary of him. He held Jeongjin fast and kept the enemy from entering the borders of Uiryeong, and men called this Jaeu's merit. Myeon was the son of Semun (世文), an old military commander, and he blocked the enemy at Ucheok Pass in Geochang and drove them back several times. When the matter was made known he was chosen as army commander of the right circuit, but he died of illness in his camp. Jonggae met the enemy and died not long after raising his troops, and the court held his purpose worthy and gave him the post of Assistant Minister of Rites. Sajin shot and killed very many of the enemy troops first and last, so that the enemy called him General Jang and dared not enter the borders of Gunwi. One day the enemy laid an ambush and lured him, and Sajin pursued to the end and fell among the ambush; yet he still shouted aloud and fought with all his strength until his arrows were spent. The enemy struck and cut off one of Sajin's arms, and Sajin with his one arm alone did not leave off striking out, and so died at last. When the matter was made known he was given the post of naval commander.

Those in Chungcheong Province were the monk Yeonggyu (靈圭); Jo Heon (趙憲), a former superintendent of education (提督官); Kim Hongmin (金弘敏), former prefect of Cheongju; Yi Sangyeom (李山謙), of concubine birth; Bak Chunmu (朴春茂), a scholar; Jo Deokgong (趙德恭), a man of Chungju; Jo Ung (趙雄) of the Inner Palace Guard; and Yi Bong (李逢), a man of Cheongju. Yeonggyu was brave and strong and fought well, and with Jo Heon he recovered Cheongju, and afterward they were beaten by the enemy and both died. Jo Ung was the more valiant and could stand on his horse as it galloped, and killed a fair many of the enemy, and died fighting.

Those in Gyeonggi were U Seongjeon (禹性傳), a former censor; Jeong Sukha (鄭叔夏), a former director; Choe Heul (崔屹), a man of Suwon; Yi Ro (李魯) and Yi Sanhwi (李山輝), licentiates and men of Goyang; Nam Eongyeong (南彥經), a former prefect; Kim Tak (金琢), a student; Yu Daejin (兪大進), a former section director; Yi Jil (李軼) of the Loyal and Righteous Guard; Hong Gyenam (洪季男), of concubine birth; and Wang Ok (王玉), a scholar. Gyenam was the swiftest and most valiant of them.

The rest too gathered each in his own district, some a hundred and more and some some tens, and those who made righteousness their name were beyond all counting; but they had no traces worth recording and all moved about and passed their days.

Again, the monk Yujeong (惟政) was at Pyohunsa on Geumgangsan, and when the enemy came into the hills all the monks of the temple fled, but Yujeong did not move; and the enemy dared not come near him and some joined their hands in reverence and went. While I was at Anju I sent writings round the four quarters that each should raise troops and come to the hardship; and when the writing reached the hills Yujeong spread it out upon the Buddha's table and called the monks together and read it and shed tears. Then he raised monk troops and advanced westward to the aid of the sovereign, and by the time he reached Pyeongyang his host was more than a thousand. He camped east of the walls of Pyeongyang and made a shape of strength together with the troops at Sunan.

Again, the Supervisor of Hoseong (湖城監), a royal kinsman, led a hundred and more men to the temporary court, and the court raised his rank and made him Director of Hoseong (湖城都正) and had him camp at Sunan and join his strength with the great army.

Of those in the northern circuit, the merit of Jeong Munbu (鄭文孚), an assessor, and Go Gyeongmin (高敬民), garrison commander of Hunyung, was the greatest, they say.

Yi Il was made frontier commander, and Yi Bin was called back to the temporary court.

Yi Il at the first held the river fords, and when Pyeongyang fell he crossed the river and went south into Hwanghae Province and from Anak came to Haeju, and from Haeju to Icheon in Gangwon Province, where he followed the crown prince and gathered several hundred troops. Hearing that the enemy, after going into Pyeongyang, long did not come out, and that the Ming troops would soon arrive, he came back to Pyeongyang at last and camped at Imwonpyeong, a place some ten li northeast of Pyeongyang. He joined his strength with Go Chunggyeong (高忠卿) and the rest, commanders of righteous troops, and had a fair number of heads to his account.

Meanwhile Yi Bin was at Sunan, and whenever he moved his troops forward he was beaten; so the officials attached to the Army Soothing Office (撫軍司) all wished to put Yi Il in Yi Bin's place. Only Kim Myeongwon the commander-in-chief took Yi Bin's part, so that he and the Army Soothing Office did not agree in their counsels and there was a fair beginning of friction between them. The court sent me to the camp at Sunan to settle and even things out. Presently the counsels of the court all held Yi Il better than Yi Bin; and hearing besides that the Ming troops would soon come out, and fearing that Yi Bin could not bear the charge, they put Yi Il in his place at last, and Bak Myeonghyeon (朴名賢) led Yi Il's troops in his stead, and Yi Bin came back to the temporary court.

Kim Sunnyang (金順良), a spy of the enemy, was taken.

From Anju I sent the officer Seong Nam (成男) with a written order to go to Kim Eokchu, the naval commander, and covenant secretly for the seventh day; and the time was the second day of the twelfth month. I warned him:

"Bring the written order back within six days. If the term passes and you do not bring it, you will be called to account."

The term passed and it was not brought, so I reproved Seong Nam and asked him, and Seong Nam said:

"I have already had Kim Sunnyang, a soldier of Gangseo, bring it back."

Sunnyang too was seized and brought, and when he was asked where the written order was, the man made a show of bewilderment and his words ran this way and that. Seong Nam said:

"Some days after this man went out with the written order he came back to the camp leading an ox, and killed it and ate it with his comrades. When men asked where the ox came from, Sunnyang said, 'I had left my ox with a kinsman's house to be reared and have fetched it back'; and now, hearing his words, the traces of it are suspicious."

I then had him beaten and examined strictly, and thereupon he confessed the fact:

"This small man became a spy of the enemy. On that day I received the written order and the secret dispatch and went straight into Pyeongyang and showed them to the enemy. The enemy commander put the written order on his desk and tore up the dispatch as soon as he had seen it, and gave me an ox as reward; and to Seo Hallyong (徐漢龍), who became a spy with me, he gave five bolts of silk as reward. We fixed that I should spy out matters outside again and come and report on the fifteenth day, and so I was let go and came out."

I asked:

"Are you the only one who became a spy, or are there more men?"

He answered:

"We are more than forty in all, and we always go out scattered among the several camps of Sunan and Gangseo, and there is nowhere, as far as Sukcheon, Anju, and Uiju, where we do not go through, and whenever there is anything we report it at once."

I was greatly startled and at once sent a dispatch, and looked over the names and informed the several camps in haste to seize them; and some were taken and some got away. Sunnyang was beheaded outside the walls.

Not long after, the Ming troops arrived and the enemy did not know it; and this in general was because their fellows had been startled and scattered. This too was a working of the springs of events falling out by chance, and there is nothing in it that is not Heaven.