Yetgeul › Jingbirok (A Record of Rebuke and Admonition) › Book 5 — The Geunpok Collection

Sending an Assistant Defense Commander to Hold the River Fords請差送助防將與防禦使協守江灘。啓

Jingbirok (A Record of Rebuke and Admonition) 懲毖錄 · Ryu Seong-ryong · 1633 (printed; written after the Imjin War) · 1 passages · 107 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min

Jingbirok (A Record of Rebuke and Admonition) Book 5 — The Geunpok Collection A record left by Ryu Seong-ryong, Chief State Councillor, of what he saw with his own eyes after the Imjin War ended. Its title comes from the line, "I rebuke what is past, and take heed against troubles to come." He set down without excuse how the war began and what the court failed to do. His recommendation of Yi Sun-sin, the wrangling with the Ming army, and the suffering the people endured are all recorded as they were.

京畿呂州以下上流警備事防禦使邊應星處大槪已爲分付其守灘將卒亦令分部畫界分守各責軍令狀使之盡心防禦矣但江面濶遠上下百餘里防禦使在一處而賊勢散布一時俱至則勢難相顧請助防將二人以堂下有武才人差出便聽防禦使節制協同守禦何如

As for guarding the upper river below Yeoju in Gyeonggi, instructions have in the main already been given to the defense commander Byeon Eungseong; and the commanders and soldiers who are to hold the fords have likewise been divided into units and their bounds drawn so that each holds his own portion, each receiving his warrant of military orders, that they may give their whole mind to blocking the way.

Only, the river is broad and runs more than a hundred ri up and down, while the defense commander is in one place and the enemy's force is scattered; so that if they should press in all at once, it would be a posture in which the men could hardly look to one another. How would it be to choose out two assistant defense commanders from among the officials of the lower ranks who have military ability, and have them hold it together under the defense commander's command?

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