Hastened Report, After Receiving the Royal Directive, on the Enemy's Situation and the Strength of the Enemy in the Northern Province有。旨祇受後馳報賊情及北道賊勢狀
本月十一日都承旨成貼有。旨書狀。天兵近當更爲前進非但接應事重亦慮粗定人心更或搖動卿其姑留鎭定更加措置事有。旨臣到嘉山祗受臣留此一二日檢勅定州以北接應之事欲還向安州臣受。命措備糧餉他餘利害非臣所管而憂慮之極未免妄陳所懷卽全賊勢猖獗益甚本道之事十分危迫平壤之賊旣無退歸之期而我軍敢戰之士死亡日多至於三縣乃一道根本軍糧所資且通於黃海京畿及下三道者皆由此路若三縣不保則順安雖有十萬之師而不可仍駐賊之散渙西出者將不可禦矣側聞三縣之軍前後死傷者不知其數僵屍如麻民心震懼而昨日有鳳山校生姜遇獵見臣于安州言賊兵自他處更聚于黃州者其數甚多云不無合勢之憂十六日之戰我軍進迫平壤而賊兵之數多於前日云且傳者言大同江賊新造船隻頗多纔聞我軍將進必招集醜類于遠近爲添兵拒戰之計萬一分道幷出乘我困怠直擣空虛則將何以支吾其爲寒心不可勝言今日之勢平壤未復出中興之望邈無其期矣加以各處軍器蕩然當初期運江邊弓箭輸到於順安肅川者亦多而數番之戰幾盡散射安州留在長片箭只各一千餘部又漸取去將不日匱竭更何以繼之耶此皆切迫之憂矣唐兵雖有先聲而尙不前來往來擺撥兒者臣觀其氣色多有畏怯縮忸之狀沿途徐行到處遲滯凡兵以氣用以勢勝若此者殊甚可慮大槪近日遠近民心頗奮將士用命所患者無一將才極爲痛悶軍糧則見儲之數外知委各官使之漸收秋租而今年道內各色貢物及內需司各司奴婢身貢皆令作米稍减其數使公私兩便庶幾軍儲不竭幷令該司早爲量處北道體探僧人覺慧等又以高原郡守邊潤牒呈及定平人燕應國等五人永興貢生李汝諒等文狀來到因言其道之事云高原郡守邊潤隱匿郡地賊尋來圍抱潤僅以身免有一民以本弓射賊三人卽死餘賊叩頭求哀之際又欲射之而弓折賊因突進搜索山中避亂之人盡皆屠戮死者數千其他處處男女枕籍而死者不知其數賊分處設伏見人輒殺人民皆隱避深谷不能出野餓死者亦多其遺民逢此僧見公文無不涕泣皆言苦待官軍來活我輩云而民之壯健者雖往往欲射賊而無一人持弓矢者計無所出云又言賊兵已到鏡城爲北兵使所敗。王子時住會寧事村民傳說未能知其虛實矣
In the royal directive sealed with the official seal by the Chief Royal Secretary on the eleventh day of this month, Your Majesty said, "The Ming troops will come forward again before long, so not only is the business of receiving and attending to them weighty, but it is also feared that the hearts of the people, barely settled, may be shaken again. Let you for now remain, settle them, and add further measures" — which your servant humbly received on reaching Gasan (嘉山). Your servant means to stay here a day or two and oversee the business of receiving and attending to them north of Jeongju (定州), and then return to Anju (安州).
Your servant has received command to prepare the army grain, so the gains and losses beyond that are not what he is charged with; but his anxiety is extreme and he cannot but report the thoughts he rashly holds.
The enemy's strength now rages the more madly, so that the affairs of this province are in the last degree perilous and pressing. The enemy at Pyeongyang have no appointed term for withdrawing, and among our troops those who dare to fight die in greater numbers by the day. As for the three districts, they are the root of the one province, the source of the army grain, and the roads that run through to Hwanghae, Gyeonggi, and the three provinces below all pass this way. If the three districts are not held, then though Sunan had a hundred thousand troops it could not remain as it is, and we shall not be able to bar the enemy from spilling out westward.
It is briefly heard that the number of the three districts' troops killed and wounded before and since cannot be known and that the fallen corpses lie thick as hemp stalks, so that the hearts of the people tremble. Yesterday Gang Uryeop (姜遇獵), a school student of Bongsan (鳳山), saw your servant at Anju and said, "The enemy soldiers who have gathered again at Hwangju (黃州) from elsewhere are very many" — so there is no lack of cause to fear their joining strength. In the fighting on the sixteenth our troops advanced and closed on Pyeongyang, but the number of enemy soldiers is said to have been greater than the other day. Others report, too, that the ships the enemy have newly made on the Daedong River are quite numerous, and that the moment they hear our troops mean to advance they are sure to call together the foul crowd far and near and add to their troops, making it their plan to bar us and fight. If they divide the roads and come out together, and seize our weary and slack moment to thrust straight at an empty place, how shall we then hold out? The pitiableness of it is beyond telling. In today's situation we have not recovered Pyeongyang, so the prospect of a restoration is distant and without a term.
Moreover, the military gear of every place is all gone. The bows and arrows of the riverside that were shipped in on the term set at the outset, and reached Sunan and Sukcheon, were many as well, but in a few battles they have nearly all been shot away and scattered. The long arrows and short arrows remaining at Anju are only something over a thousand bundles of each, and these too are being taken away bit by bit, so that within a few days they will run out; with what shall we keep up the supply then? These are all pressing anxieties.
The Ming troops are ahead only in rumor and have not yet come; and from the looks of the couriers going back and forth, your servant sees much of the shape of fearfulness and shrinking, as they go slowly along the road and linger at every place they reach. Now troops are used by spirit and win by the shape of things, and with matters as they are it is deeply worrying. In the main, the hearts of the people far and near are of late quite roused and the commanders and troops obey orders; what is worrying is that there is not one man of the timber of a commander, which is deeply galling and vexing.
As for the army grain, besides the amount now laid up, your servant has notified each district to collect the autumn taxes bit by bit. Further, if this year's various tribute goods of the province and the substitute levies of the slaves of the Royal Treasury and the several offices are all made to be exchanged for rice, and the amount somewhat reduced so that both public and private are at ease, the army grain seems unlikely to run dry; let the offices concerned be ordered together to weigh and dispose of this early.
The monk Gakhye (覺慧) and the others who scouted the northern province have also come bringing the report of Gowon Magistrate Byeon Yun (邊潤) and writings from five men of Jeongpyeong, Yeon Eungguk (燕應國) and the rest, and from Yi Yeoryang (李汝諒), a district student of Yeongheung, and have spoken of the affairs of that province.
Gowon Magistrate Byeon Yun was hidden in the district's territory, and the enemy came seeking him and surrounded the place, so that Byeon Yun barely got away with his body alone. One of the people shot the enemy with his own bow and three fell dead at once; and just as the remaining enemy were knocking their heads on the ground and begging for their lives, he made to shoot again and his bow broke. The enemy charged in at this opening and hunted out and killed all the people who had taken refuge in the mountains, so that the dead were several thousand. Besides this, the men and women who lay dead heaped on one another in various places cannot be numbered. The enemy have set ambushes here and there and kill at once anyone they see, so the people have all hidden in the deep valleys and cannot go out into the fields, and many die of hunger as well.
The people who remain, meeting these monks and seeing the dispatch, not one of them but shed tears, and all said, "We wait in anguish for the government troops to come and let us live." Among the people the stout and sturdy would here and there shoot at the enemy, but not one of them has a bow and arrows, so there is said to be nowhere for a plan to come from. They said further that the enemy soldiers had already reached Gyeongseong (鏡城) and were defeated by the Northern Army Commander, and that the Prince happens to be staying at Hoeryeong (會寧); but these are words passed on by the village people and their truth or falsehood cannot be known.
Interlinear notes 1
壬辰八月
The eighth month of the Imjin year