Report on How the Ming Troops Fell Back and Halted at Gonggangjeong天兵退駐控江亭緣由狀

This time the Ming troops have again come off badly against a petty enemy; there is no grief and indignation worse than this. It is largely because our country's reports of late all said that the Japanese enemy meant to withdraw and flee. Commander Zu (祖總兵) and those below him, chasing the advantage, advanced lightly and ran two days' road in one, so that the horses sickened and the men were worn out. Moreover the weather was unsettled, and with heavy rain turning the ground to mire they drove the troops on through the night and came beneath a firm wall. They met the long suit of the enemy with their own short one, and that they were beaten is truly nothing to wonder at.

Even after falling back they did not consult and arrange matters with the men of our country, but marched by night, not entering any of the districts they passed, mixed in among the disordered troops, and did not stop until dawn. Your servant, hearing yesterday that they had halted at Gonggangjeong (控江亭), sent his aide Sin Gyeongjin (辛慶晉) hurrying to pay respects; the answer was, "Had we known the Chief State Councillor was at Anju, we would have gone in to see him, but we passed by because we were escorting the coffin of Vanguard Commander Shi (史遊擊)" — and they lodged up on the pavilion. Some ten loads of army grain and food for their entertainment were hurried after them in haste. Today, again, your servant heard from the report of Han Eungin (韓應寅) that the Ming commander means to fall back and halt at Gasan. Han Eungin had an interpreter tell him that he ought to halt at Anju, whereupon the Ming commander, harboring doubts, could not decide, and is said to be sorting and mustering his sick troops.

From yesterday until now the heavy rain has been as if poured out. Gonggangjeong is a bare, wide stretch of grassland with not one thing to lean on for shelter, and a great many troops and horses have lain heaped against one another in the wind and rain for two days now; it is deeply pitiable and cruel. The Ming commander's intent is to muster his troops again and also to summon Commander Yang (楊總兵) and bring out a large body of troops and horses.

Your servant quietly considers that the seasonal rains are now at their height, so it cannot be fixed beforehand whether the clearing will come early or late. Of the army grain stored along this one road, there are at Jeongju three or four hundred seok of rice moved from Guseong (龜城) and five hundred seok of land-tax rice from the Asanchang granary (牙山倉), and at Anju some seven hundred seok of land-tax rice from the Asanchang granary. What is stored in the other districts is for the most part barely enough to supply a day or two. Now the place for the Ming troops to halt is either Jeongju or Anju; but at Anju, since the refugees rose in revolt, the household goods and gear have all been lost, and though temporary huts and the like are now being pressed forward, they are hard to put up as one would wish.

Looking at this state of affairs, it would be right, as a plan of full security, that Commander Zu should halt a while at Jeongju to rest his troops and horses and send back all those too sick to be of use, while Commander Yang should stay as he is at the riverside redoubt, or else advance and halt at Uiju, and wait for the rain to clear before setting out slowly in turn, so that the strength of the horses is not wanting and the edge of the troops is not blunted. If instead they do not cease from moving lightly, and troops in their thousands and tens of thousands suddenly come forward again and halt and linger here and there while the rain does not clear in time and the streams and ditches overflow, then advance and withdrawal alike will come to ruin; and what strength have we, moreover, to keep up provisions for troops that sit and eat for many days? Your servant has weighed the situation closely and still does not know what plan to put forward, and for this reason he has sighed until dawn. Humbly he sets forth the circumstances thus and reports them with haste; let the court follow whichever course is best and dispose of it with particular care.

As for the coffin of Vanguard Commander Shi, it is for us to protect and send it off with the utmost generosity. Your servant, hearing that it would arrive presently, at once had the district officials prepare a coffin (棺) and sacrificial offerings and wait; but it passed by in the middle of the night and the people did not learn of it in time, so the coffin was sent after it along the road. Besides him there are also several men of the rank of Battalion Commander and below who died. That Ming commanders and troops have come to die over our country's affairs makes the pain and smarting more complete still. If the silver for the journey to escort the bier and the business of the sacrifices are carried out with particular liberality, it will nearly fulfill our earnest intent. What Commander Zu said to Sin Gyeongjin was to this same effect.

There is nothing else for your servant to do by staying here. Only, he considers that after the Ming troops' defeat and withdrawal the hearts of the people may perhaps be shaken, and so he plans to remain for now as he is, watch the situation, and then advance or withdraw.