Report on Taking the Enemy Spy Kim Sun-ryang and Holding Him at Anju獲賊諜金順良囚安州狀
臣於前月十八日送傳令于舟師大將有指揮事日久而不爲還繳臣怪之移文推詰則已於二十二日從右防禦使處具公文送還云而中間無去處因次次推問則公文捧受出來之人乃三和水軍金順良自言公文及傳令納于肅川元帥處又受祕密關子而去路中逢一人偕入平壤城中賊將見公文裂破留二日持牛隻刈草於城外因爲逃還云其說荒唐臣捉致眼前令嚴杖數度而問之順良供招云順良七月被擄入城因爲往來城中與三和官奴莫同及平壤私奴徐漢龍芿叱福交結其類四十餘人皆爲賊所使自初出入詗察我國事情凡列陣中無不往來周流順安尤多往來安州義州等處亦有往來之人順良初自右防禦使處受傳命及公交直人平壤倭將見公文裂破傳令則受置其處因賞給徐漢龍等紬五疋順良牛一隻更令入來徐漢龍約於初十日間出來探事云云邇來凡我國動靜賊無不先知至於山川形勢道里迃直行軍日期亦無不知固疑奸民爲之耳目今聞順良之言賊間無遠不布極可寒心今幸因事發露招辭現出之人方秘密設策期於購捕所謂芿叱福者亦於數日前被捉於右防禦使伏兵處與順良對辨則以爲此是往來之人與順良姑爲堅囚於安州以待追後捕捉之人憑詰得情計料因卽密通諸陣使之嚴加譏察事係關重先爲馳。啓
On the eighteenth day of last month your servant sent a dispatch order to the commander of the naval forces, having matters to direct. As the days grew long and it was not returned, your servant thought it strange and sent a written inquiry; and the answer was that it had already been sent back on the twenty-second together with a dispatch from the Right Defence Commander, yet in the meantime it had gone nowhere.
Pressing the inquiry step by step, it appeared that the man who had taken the dispatch out was Kim Sunryang (金順良), a sailor of Samhwa (三和). He said of himself, "I delivered the dispatch and the order at Sukcheon (肅川), where the Supreme Commander was, and received a secret document besides and went off with it; on the road I met a man and went with him into the walled city of Pyeongyang, and the enemy commander looked at the dispatch and tore it up. I stayed two days, and then, leading an ox and cutting fodder outside the wall, I thereupon fled back." His words were wild and false. Your servant had him brought in before him and flogged and questioned him severely several times, and Sunryang confessed and said:
"Sunryang was taken captive in the seventh month and brought into the city, and thereafter went in and out of it. He joined himself with Makdong (莫同), a government slave of Samhwa, and with Seo Hallyong (徐漢龍) and Neutbok (芿叱福), private slaves of Pyeongyang; and of that band, something over forty in all, every one is employed by the enemy and has gone in and out from the first, spying out and observing the state of our country. There is not one of the camps in the line that they have not gone to and from, and going round about Sunan (順安) they have gone to and fro the more; and at Anju (安州), Uiju (義州) and such places too there are men who go and come.
"When Sunryang first received the order and the dispatch from the Right Defence Commander he went straight into Pyeongyang, and the Japanese commander looked at the dispatch and tore it up, and the order he took and kept there. He then gave Seo Hallyong and the others five bolts of silk, and Sunryang one ox, as reward, and had them come in again; and Seo Hallyong engaged to come out about the tenth day to spy out matters."
Of late there has been nothing of our country's movements that the enemy have not known first, and the lie of the mountains and rivers, the distance and straightness of the roads, even the dates on which the troops are to march, there is nothing of these either that they do not know; and so your servant truly suspected that treacherous people had become their ears and eyes. Now, hearing Sunryang's words, the enemy's spies have spread to every place, however distant, which is a thing to grieve over utterly.
Now by good fortune it has come to light through this business, and as for the men named in the deposition, secret devices are being laid to take them without fail by setting a reward upon them. The one called Neutbok was also taken a few days ago at the place where the Right Defence Commander had set an ambush, and on being brought face to face with Sunryang it was made plain that this was one of the men who went to and fro. Together with Sunryang he is for now held fast at Anju, and the plan is to wait for the men yet to be taken and then, by cross-examining upon the evidence, to get at the truth. Word has accordingly been passed in secret at once to the several camps, to watch and question strictly. As the business bears upon a weighty matter, your servant reports it urgently first of all.
Interlinear notes 1
十二月
The twelfth month
數日後斬順良於安州城外梟首示眾自是其黨驚散未久。天兵渡江而賊不知兵至使平好官出迎沈遊擊爲查大受所擒翌日進圍平壤得以成功如賊問尙在而預爲之備則事未可知間諜之有關於兵機如此
A few days later Sunryang was beheaded outside the wall of Anju and his head hung up for all to see. From that time his band took fright and scattered. Not long after, the Ming troops crossed the river, and the enemy, not knowing that the troops had come, sent out Pyeonghogwan (平好官) to meet Brigade Commander Shen, and he was taken captive by Zha Dashou (査大受). The next day they advanced and surrounded Pyeongyang, and so the thing could be accomplished. Had the enemy's spies still been there and had they been prepared beforehand, how it would have gone could not be known. So much do spies bear upon the secrets of war.