Requesting That Talent Be Drawn Widely, Breaking the Usual Rules請破格廣取人才以爲守令邊將。啓
慶尙道海邊自西生浦釜山浦等處雖爲賊窟而其餘梁山密陽以北皆爲我土遺民往往保聚山谷苟延時月其數亦多若能登時選擇守令招集流散防護盜賊漸次安集而察其地形分據要害以爲且耕且守之圖則賊旣有所畏憚而不敢恣意出沒民之離散於他境者又將日益來集而將來守備之策漸可講矣今此狀啓辭緣實有遠慮而所謂安以命者徐渻旣視其可用且爲本土之人其於民情土俗亦必諳委當此危難之際所當破格收才以求實效依狀啓施行無妨諸陣軍官可用武士不患乏人而未得展其所懷膽力憊於飢寒才氣挫於沉滯者誠是至當之論夫人才雖有大小而皆有所長短苟能隨才甄拔使各奮勵則莫非可用之才所患求之不廣用之失宜耳慶尙道方對賊壘策應撫摩之責尤重於他道而。朝廷每於千里之外循常差送得人者無幾如使本處有可用之人則擇而任之何不可之有徐渻旣在薦擧守令邊將之秩更爲從實搜訪勿限多少論薦其才亦令都元師巡察使一體薦擧以廣用人之路事幷爲行移何如
On the coast of Gyeongsang Province, though Seosaengpo, Busanpo, and those parts have become the enemy's lair, all the rest north of Yangsan and Miryang is our land. The people who remain gather here and there in the mountain valleys and hold out, dragging out their days as best they may, and their number too is great. If magistrates were sifted out and appointed in good time to call in the scattered, to block and guard against brigands, and to bring them little by little to gather in peace; and if the lie of the land were studied and the strong points divided and occupied, and a plan laid for ploughing while holding, then the enemy would have something to fear and shrink from and would not dare come and go as they pleased, while the people scattered into other regions would gather in more thickly day by day, and a plan for holding the country hereafter could be contrived by degrees.
The substance of this field report is truly far-sighted. The man called An I-myeong (安以命) has already been judged fit for use by Seo Seong (徐渻), and he is besides a man of that country, so he must be familiar with the people's circumstances and with the customs of the place. At this perilous and difficult time we ought to break the usual rules and gather in talent and seek real results; so it would do no harm to carry out the field report as it stands.
As for the military officers of the several camps and the serviceable men of arms, there is no fear of men being wanting; but the saying that they cannot unfold what they hold within, that their nerve is starved and frozen and worn out and their talents blocked and broken, is truly a most fitting word. Men of ability are great or small, yet each has his long side and his short; and if they are truly sifted and chosen according to their talents and each is made to rouse himself and strive, there is none that is not timber fit for use. The trouble lies only in not seeking widely enough and in going wrong in the fitness of the use.
Gyeongsang Province now faces the enemy's ramparts, and its charge of answering them and of soothing the people is heavier than that of any other province; yet the court always posts men there in the usual way from a thousand li off, and few of its appointments have found the right man. If there are men fit for use in that place, what is there against sifting them out and giving them the charge? Seo Seong is already in a post that recommends magistrates and frontier commanders; let him again seek and inquire according to the actual state of things and recommend them on the merit of their talents without limiting the number, great or small; and let the Supreme Commander and the Inspector-General likewise make recommendations. Would it not be well to send a document about this too, so as to widen the way of employing men?
Interlinear notes 1
The base text has 都元師, but this is taken as an error for 都元帥.