The Grand Army at Anju: Meeting Commander-in-Chief Li to Discuss the War大軍到安州見李提督議軍事狀
前月二十九日。天兵始到安州遊擊參將葛逢夏先來初二日左翼都督李如柏率諸將繼至結陣于城外軍容甚盛翌日發向肅川臣條列軍中事宜數事幷畫平壤地圖以呈都督出大廳招臣相見細問倭奴多少道路遠近糧草有無及他軍事臣隨問對之而退右翼都督張世爵又到暫留卽向肅川巳時大將提督李如松中衛楊元等諸將又至臣出迎于城外日暮提督出坐東軒招臣相見臣袖持地圖以進提督命設椅近坐展地圖于卓子上以手指點道路悉陳進兵勦賊方略縷縷不已且言明日同往肅川與其處領兵將官共會詳議臣今日隨往肅川提督所言甚多難以盡記大槪指地圖降福山曰。天兵當設伏此地令本國軍馬誘賊出來合擊勦滅不爾則又使一枝兵從東路合圍大同門四面攻之倭賊鳥銃數百步外雖中不能傷人我軍之炮則可及數里以此攻城賊必不支平壤旣破然後又使一枝兵往北道其餘當向黃海道云各官所儲糧草時得僅僅支給若多日留屯萬無接濟之理伏聞唐糧在道而運到無期云臣意令各官守令親自盡率境內牛畜人丁負戴輸運次次到境各具輸運日時其中尤甚稽留者逐一從重治罪庶幾輸到軍前可免窘乏之患請令該司急速處置。天兵雖到而我兵當因此際亦自致力然後可以有濟臣觀各陣諸將可任統領者絕少而雖在褊裨亦無勇銳敢戰之士傳聞水原居金瑩乃遇秋之子勇力絕人而爲都事鄭曄所率久在閒地殊爲可惜前月中移文于京畿使之起送軍前今聞來在義州當此臨戰之際勇士一人有關金瑩不分晝夜給戰馬出送
On the twenty-ninth day of last month the Ming troops at last reached Anju (安州), Brigade Commander and Vice Commander Ge Fengxia (葛逢夏) coming first. On the second day Li Rubai (李如柏), Commandant of the Left Wing, arrived with the several commanders one after another and encamped outside the wall, their military array being very grand; and the next day they set out for Sukcheon (肅川). Your servant set down item by item a few matters fitting for the camp, and submitted besides a drawn map of Pyeongyang. The Commandant came out into the great hall and called your servant to see him, and asked closely of the numbers of the Japanese, the distance and nearness of the roads, the having or wanting of provisions and fodder, and other military matters; and your servant answered as he was asked and withdrew. Zhang Shijue (張世爵), Commandant of the Right Wing, also arrived, stayed a little while, and at once turned towards Sukcheon.
At the hour of sa (巳時) the chief commander, Commander-in-Chief Li Rusong (李如松), and Yang Yuan (楊元) of the centre and the other commanders also arrived, and your servant went out beyond the wall to meet them. As the day drew to its close the Commander-in-Chief came and sat in the district hall and called your servant to see him, and your servant went in with the map in his sleeve. The Commander-in-Chief set a chair for him to sit near, and spread the map upon the table, and pointing out the roads with his hand spoke at length and without ceasing of the plan for sending out the troops and striking the enemy. He said further that tomorrow they would go together to Sukcheon and there gather with the commanders who lead the troops and with the military officers and deliberate closely; and so your servant goes with them today to Sukcheon.
What the Commander-in-Chief said was very much, and hard to set down in full. In general, pointing to Gangboksan (降福山) on the map he said: "The Ming troops should lay an ambush on this ground and have the horse and foot of your country entice the enemy out, and we shall join and destroy them. Failing that, we shall take one further column of troops along the eastern road to surround the Daedong Gate and strike from all four sides. The matchlocks of the Japanese cannot wound a man beyond several hundred paces even if they hit him, but our troops' cannon can reach a few li; and if the wall be struck with these, the enemy will surely not hold out. After Pyeongyang is broken, we shall send one further column to the northern provinces, and the rest should turn towards Hwanghae Province."
The provisions and fodder stored up in the several districts barely suffice to supply them, and if they stay and encamp for many days there is no way at all, not one chance in ten thousand, of keeping up the supply. Your servant humbly hears that the Ming provisions are on the road but that there is no term set for shipping them in. In your servant's view, the magistrates of the several districts should go in person and take all the oxen and able men within their bounds and have them carry and ship it in without a break; and as they come by stages to the boundary let each be made to set out the date and hour of his shipping, and those among them who delay the more grossly be one by one heavily punished; and then it will nearly all be shipped in to the camp, and the care of straitness and want avoided. Your servant begs that the office in charge be made to dispose of it urgently.
Though the Ming troops have come, it is only after our own troops do their utmost at this juncture that we can be saved. Your servant, looking over the several commanders of the various camps, finds very few fit to be entrusted with a command, and among the subalterns (褊裨) too there are no soldiers swift and firm and daring to fight. Report has it that Kim Yeong (金瑩), who lives at Suwon, is the son of Uchu (遇秋) and that his courage and strength surpass other men's, but that being under the Provincial Aide Jeong Yeop (鄭曄) he has long been in an idle post, which is much to be regretted. Last month a written inquiry was sent to Gyeonggi to have him sent up to the camp, and your servant now hears that he has come as far as Uiju (義州). At this juncture of joined battle one brave man is of consequence; let Kim Yeong be given a war-horse and sent out, without regard to night or day.
Interlinear notes 1
癸巳正月三日
The third day of the first month of the Gyesa year