Requesting the Taxes of School, Temple, and Tideland Fields for the Army Grain, and Fire Carts Built for Battle請收學田寺位海澤田稅以補軍餉且多造火車以備戰用狀
臣觀今日之勢一向危迫所恃者惟唐兵而唐兵之來又無期限看其唐將處置未必不出於講解之計狡猾倭奴非可以約誓戢其凶鋒且天時已寒士卒暴露凍餒銳氣先衰萬一賊聚類西下事極寒心。朝廷請兵之後及沈遊擊渡江後未知消息如何日夜憂慮糧餉則前日所備粗可以支給萬兵若三四萬出來則亦不可以此繼餉似當別樣措置更備二三萬兵之食然後可無匱乏之憂而郡邑倉庫一樣蕩竭無計推移道內學田書院諸寺位田及諸宮折受海澤田等今年姑令各官推尋收入可得數千餘石可補一隅之用亦令該司急速商量施行且兵家之要莫先於精利器械我國惟恃弓矢數百步之外不能禦鐵丸數步之內不能敵短兵以故動輒敗北其勢然也近日唐將往來時亦言我軍全無器械爲之恠歎云其實我國非無器械持有之而不用耳臣竊觀火車之制極爲便利誠制勝之妙器而安州所在只二十兩寧邊則但二兩而古制頗不適宜臣略加增損修繕運轉甚易每車戰勝字銃筩十五箇試令合放則亂丸如雨聲振山野所當之處人不得立若加造百餘兩四面排陣間以射手徐行直進則賊兵雖多似難來犯此意臣已通於都元帥巡察使其意亦欲用之故臣時方聚會匠人修造而但車數不足聞義州所儲火車其數最多急時收出一依新樣造作勝字銃筩如不足則以宙吳字皮翎箭相問編之亦可用也臣聞有蘇忠漢者頗解此術而時在義州又火炮匠金繼守等以京破陣軍亦在義州云急速發送軍前以備戰用允爲便益臣職事之外不當瀆陳而事係悶迫敢此妄發惶恐無地
Looking at the situation of today, your servant finds it more perilous and pressing as time goes on. The one thing to rely on is the Ming army alone, yet for the Ming army's coming there is again no set term. Looking at the Ming general's conduct, it seems likely to arise from a design to make peace. The crafty Japanese are not men whose cruel blades can be drawn back by agreement and oath.
Moreover the weather has already turned cold, and the troops, freezing and hungry in the open, have had their keen spirit decline first of all. Should the enemy gather their host and come down westward, the matter would be bitterly disheartening. Since the court asked for troops, and since Brigade Commander Shen (沈遊擊) crossed the river, your servant does not know how the news stands, and is anxious day and night.
The army grain provided before is roughly enough to supply ten thousand troops. Should thirty or forty thousand come out, the grain cannot be kept up out of this. Only after taking separate measures and providing food for a further twenty or thirty thousand troops would there be no worry of falling short. Yet the district storehouses are empty one and all, and there is no way of moving grain from them for use.
If, for this year at least, each district were made to seek out and gather in the school fields (學田) of the province, and the academies, and the endowment fields (位田) of the several temples, and the tideland fields (海澤田) allotted to the several palace households, several thousand seom might be got to add to the needs of this one corner. Let the office concerned also be made to weigh it and carry it out in haste.
Again, in the business of war nothing comes before making the weapons fit and keen. Our country relies on the bow and arrow alone. At a few hundred paces it cannot stop the iron shot, and within a few paces it cannot stand against short weapons. Hence at the least occasion our ranks break; such is the case. Lately too, when the Ming generals came and went, they said that our troops had no weapons at all, and thought it strange and sighed over it. In truth it is not that our country has no weapons, but only that we have them and do not use them.
Your servant has quietly examined the design of the fire cart (火車), and it is most convenient and advantageous, truly a wondrous instrument for gaining victory. Yet those at Anju (安州) number only twenty, and at Yeongbyeon (寧邊) only two, and the old design was far from fitting. Your servant has altered it, adding a little and taking away a little, so that it is very easy to roll and move. Loading fifteen seungja gun barrels (勝字銃筒) on each cart, he had them fired all at once by way of trial: the scattering shot came like rain and the sound rang through hill and field, so that where it struck no man could keep his feet.
If a hundred or more were made in addition, the ranks drawn up on all four sides with bowmen set among them, and the whole advanced slowly straight ahead, then though the enemy troops be many it seems they would find it hard to come and assail us. Your servant has already made this intent known to the Supreme Commander and the Patrol Commissioner (巡察使), and their intent too is to use them. So your servant is now gathering artisans and having them made; only the number of carts is wanting.
It is heard that the fire carts stored at Uiju (義州) are the greatest in number. Let them be brought out in haste and all made over after the new pattern. Should the seungja gun barrels fall short, the uja (宇字) and juja (宙字) barrels will serve as well if leather-fletched arrows are set and bound in between them.
Your servant hears that one So Chunghan (蘇忠漢) knows this craft well and is now at Uiju. Again, the cannon-smith Kim Gyesu (金繼守) and others, of the capital's Pajin corps (破陣軍, the formation-breaking troops), are likewise at Uiju. If they were sent in haste to the camp and used in the fighting, it would be truly convenient and advantageous.
This lying outside your servant's charge, it is not fit matter to trouble you with; yet being bound by what is pressing and urgent, he dares to speak thus rashly, and is filled with awe beyond measure.
Interlinear notes 1
壬辰九月十四日
Fourteenth day of the ninth month of the imjin (壬辰) year