Imban Station: The Ming General's Orders to Yi Bin, and Hong Jong-rok Sent to Guard the Guseong Granary林畔驛唐將分付李薲事及路逢忠淸道書狀陪持人上送發遣從事官洪宗祿看守龜城倉糓狀
臣昨日留金命元李元翼兵使李潤德守定州與防禦使李薲同行到雲興斥候唐人皆已還去日沒時到林畔初欲請見唐將伏聞。軍駕已親臨面議臣追到言辭曲折恐致重複還有未安之意故令譯官只通李薲姓名以爲平壤留陣將帥欲親陳賊勢且聽老爺約束故來兩將答云賊勢吾已詳聞將帥離陣出來則軍士將解散無留見我卽還去整軍以待可也旣而史遊擊招通事密語云吾不議於戴叅將獨通于總兵官請簡精兵三百直到賊所若報可則吾當馳進汝國將帥亦極擇精銳以待吾行嚮導可也李薲終不得見今曉還赴定州而他餘諸將之分散者如李鎰李薦邈無形影監司宋言愼以本道總率之官亦由他路以去時在定州者手下無一軍卒拱手相視計無所出自大駕西行漸深道路流民十五爲群如失家之狗無所係心强者搶掠弱者奔迸數日之內將盡爲亂民所見悲慘臣之昧慮只有叩心推胷求死不得而已臣路逢沔川鄕吏自言持忠淸監司。啓本欲達。行在而間關水陸足腫難行臣令帶率下人有馬者率去馳送狀啓之事雖未的知而漢江以南忠淸全羅郡邑尙皆完全慶尙左右道郡邑除賊所經過者外皆爲我土黃海道海州等邑亦未蕩敗北道關東依舊而今幸。天兵來救若將士協心與之合力似不至於無可奈何但國綱蕩然寇賊未至之處守令爭先逃去散失倉糓傳聞江邊近處如龜城等邑亦已如此唐兵雖來事無可爲臣從事官洪宗祿曾在龜城詳知其處之事故事急未及。啓禀從中路發送使之馳去曉諭人更堅守倉糓以待調發云云
Yesterday your servant left Kim Myeongwon (金命元), Yi Wonik (李元翼) and the army commander Yi Yundeok behind to hold Jeongju, and came with the defense commander Yi Bin (李薲) to Unheung. The Ming men who had been scouting had all gone back already, and at sundown they reached Imban (林畔). At first he meant to ask leave to see the Ming generals; but, having heard with bowed head that His Majesty had already come in person and conferred with them face to face, he felt rather that it would be amiss if, coming after, he were to go over the same particulars again. Therefore he had the interpreter give out only Yi Bin's name, saying that a commander who had been stationed at Pyeongyang had come to report the enemy's posture in person and also to hear the elders' instructions.
The two generals answered: 「Of the enemy's posture I have already heard in detail. If a commander leaves his camp and comes out, his troops will scatter; so rather than stay in order to see me, he had better go straight back, set his troops in order, and wait.」 Presently Skirmish Commander Shi (史遊擊) called the interpreter and said quietly: 「Without conferring with Vice Commander Dai (戴叅將), I alone sent word to the regional commander asking that three hundred picked troops be chosen and go straight to where the enemy is. When word of leave comes, I shall hasten forward; so your country's commanders too had better choose out their best, wait for my going, and act as guides.」 Yi Bin in the end did not get to see them, and at dawn today went back to Jeongju.
As for the other commanders who scattered, of such as Yi Il (李鎰) and Yi Cheon (李薦) there is not so much as a distant shadow, and Song Eonsin (宋言愼), the governor, though he is the official who leads that province, went off by another road. Those now at Jeongju have not one soldier under their hands, and fold their arms and look at one another with no plan to put forward. Since the royal carriage moved yet deeper to the west, the wandering people on the roads gather in tens and fives, with nowhere to set their hearts, like dogs that have lost their homes; the strong plunder and the weak flee and scatter, so that within a few days they will all have become rioters, and what one sees is wretched. To your servant's dull mind there is nothing for it but to beat and push at his breast and wish to die and yet not die.
On the road your servant met a local clerk of Myeoncheon who said that he was himself carrying the Chungcheong governor's submission to present at the royal camp, and that, having come with hardship by water and by land, his feet were swollen so that he could hardly go on. Your servant had one of his own underlings who had a horse take him along and hasten on. The contents of the submission he does not know for certain; but the districts of Chungcheong and Jeolla south of the Han River are still all whole, and the districts of the left and right of Gyeongsang too, apart from the places the enemy has passed through, are all our land; the districts of Hwanghae such as Haeju have not yet fallen either, and the northern province and Gwandong are as they were. Now that the Ming troops are happily coming to our rescue, if commanders and soldiers gather their hearts and join their strength, it seems things will not come to a pass beyond all help.
Only, the sinews of the state having broken down, even in places the enemy has not reached the magistrates vie with one another in fleeing and the grain of the storehouses is scattered and lost. Report has it that districts near the river such as Guseong (龜城) are already in this state, so that even should the Ming troops come there would be nothing they could do. Your servant's aide-de-camp Hong Jongrok (洪宗祿) was once at Guseong and knows that place's affairs in detail. Therefore, the matter being urgent and there being no time to submit it beforehand, he sent him off from the middle of the road, to hasten there, persuade the people, hold the storehouse grain fast, and await the hour of its being called out.
Interlinear notes 1
六月
The sixth month