Report on Whether to Send a Memorial to the Ming陳陳奏形止便否。啓
伏承。聖批不勝惶恐之至當此國事危急非不欲殫心竭慮而精神才識終是有限近日之事多有失誤屢勤。下敎罪無所逃但臣等愚意所在則自古告急之事不過愼擇使臣冠蓋相望血誠陳懇雖遇險難而不計死生以身當之期於道達而已今經略多般攔阻使賊情不得上達固爲痛甚我國告急之使亦朝夕繼進拊心號哭於經略之門使遼左之聞見曉然知之然後可也今雖有黃璡一番進去而亦中路彷徨未見經略之面是在我告急之道亦自未盡將何據而遽以告急奏文爲經略攔阻訟寃於。天朝乎竊觀宋之爲人機械隱秘其黨布列萬一因此而反以傾陷誣罔歸罪於我國而我國不能自明則他日禍端因此而更重或未可知故今日之事只當陳本國危急之狀而應昌誣罔之罪則令。天朝自覺乃是善策今黃璡旣去金睟繼往其得達與否皆不可知此後又有尺粮使或偕持告急之奏或自爲呈文皆在使臣盡心與否此外如通情於周基之還移咨於巡按等處皆可爲也其餘出於他逕涉於未安者則非徒於事無益反恐以此爲口實而益陷於經略術中也臣等私憂過計不得不致謹於此至於請冕一節。上敎極爲允當臣等亦因政院啓辭欲假他事因達賊情之言而幷爲歷擧未及致詳實出慮事疎脫尤切惶恐如此大事所當參互衆論以取其長非臣等所能料得無欠機會一失後悔無及若令二品以上各自獻議恐無不可採者
Having humbly received Your Majesty's reply, we are filled with dread. It is not that we have not wished to exhaust our hearts and thoughts at this hour when the affairs of the state are in peril, but our spirit, our talent, and our discernment have their limits in the end, and of late we have erred in many matters and have troubled Your Majesty's instructions again and again, so that there is no way for us to escape blame.
Yet in our foolish view, the business of reporting an emergency has from of old amounted to no more than this: to choose the envoys with care so that their carriages are seen following one after another, to plead earnestly with a sincerity wrung from the blood, and, though they meet with peril and hardship, to reckon nothing of life or death but to set their own bodies against it until the words get through. Now the Commissioner (經略) blocks us in every manner, so that the true state of the enemy cannot reach those above; this is a bitter thing indeed. Our own envoys who carry word of the emergency ought likewise to go forward one after another, morning and evening, and beat their breasts and cry aloud before the Commissioner's gate, so that what is seen and heard in Liaodong becomes clear; only then is it right. Now Hwang Jin (黃璡) has gone once, but he too wandered about on the way and never saw the Commissioner's face, so that on our side the duty of reporting the emergency has not been fulfilled either. On what ground, then, could we suddenly complain of our wrong to the Ming court, saying that the Commissioner has blocked our memorial of emergency?
Observing quietly, we find Song Yingchang (宋應昌) a man of deep schemes and much concealment, and his faction is spread wide. Should he turn this matter about to slander and deceive and lay the blame upon our country, and should we be unable to clear ourselves, there is no knowing but that the calamity of later days will be made the heavier by it. Therefore the business of today is simply to report the perilous condition of our country, and to let the Ming court come of itself to see the guilt of Song Yingchang's deception. This is the good plan.
Hwang Jin has already gone and Kim Su (金睟) follows after him, and whether they will get through none can tell. Hereafter there will also be the Envoy for Grain Measure (尺粮使), who may carry the memorial of emergency along with him or submit a petition of his own; and all of this rests on whether the envoy gives his whole heart to it. Besides these, it would be worth conveying our meaning through Zhou Ji (周基) when he returns, or sending documents to the Regional Inspector (巡按) and like offices. As for going out by other side paths in ways that are not proper, not only would it bring no profit to the business, but we fear it would rather be made a pretext and sink us the deeper into the Commissioner's designs. We, in our private and excessive anxiety, could not but be cautious in this.
As for the one matter of requesting the robes and crown of state (冕服), Your Majesty's instruction is altogether proper. We too, prompted by the memorial of the Royal Secretariat, meant to borrow another occasion to speak of the enemy's condition, but we only raised the matters together in a general way and did not go into them closely; this truly came of a loose reckoning of affairs, and we are the more in dread. A great matter such as this ought to be settled by weighing many counsels and taking what is best in them; it is not something we can reckon out without flaw. Once an opportunity is lost, regret cannot overtake it; if Your Majesty would have each official of the second rank and above submit his own opinion, it seems there would not fail to be something worth adopting.