Commander-in-Chief Li's Defeat at Byeokje and Withdrawal to Dongpa, and Requesting That Ming Grain Be Shipped馳報李提督進軍碧蹄不利還駐東坡及請輸運唐糧以濟大事狀
二十六日提督由開城府過東坡水渡臨津淺灘駐兵于坡州二十七日提督及李都督率家丁百餘名馳向碧蹄將欲自體探于京城諸軍皆不動是日曉頭查總兵與防禦使高彥伯馳到昌陵近處賊多設伏兵于山谷間先出數百餘人誘引總兵揮軍掩擊賊披靡散走斬獲殆盡欲引退之際賊後隊大兵繼至提督行到惠陰嶺聞有賊兵馳馬突進路中馬蹶墮落頰微傷良久而起因前突賊陣賊衆多於。天兵先鋒數倍而。天兵之繼進者未及到。天兵因爲賊所逐提督殿後而退大軍鱗次退來還駐坡州天兵死傷者數百餘人提督家丁親信者一人亦死提督馬上痛哭到坡州夜間亦哭臣等卽爲問安提督答云將官見敵先退故以此還來云因令諸軍嚴設警守二十八日早朝欲退駐東坡臣與都元帥金命元接待使李德馨戶曹判書李誠中都巡察使權徵等同進極陳不可退軍之事反覆懇陳提督出立庭中請將環列左右招臣等語之曰吾軍昨目勝捷別無敗北之事今之欲駐東坡非有他意只緣此處馬草絕乏後有江水火炮器械南方義兵亦未齊到以此欲還駐東坡休兵數日更爲整齊以進臣等齊跪極陳不可大要以爲大兵已進若退一步賊氣乘勝民心動搖此機甚關且南方義兵及各處將官聞大兵之到皆至漢江軍糧連續輸到老爺豈可不念此而遽卽退軍乎此處遺民聞。王師之來各自扶攜來尋舊基今又棄去必盡爲賊所害何可忍此提督云吾之初意本欲體探而來今之還駐非有他計只欲休兵更來臣等力爭不已提督手持報兵奏文以示大要以爲賊兵之在京城者幾二十萬而唐兵只數萬且多死傷因請添兵運糧末端又言身有病患之事臣以手指點告曰倭賊之在城中者多不過萬餘緣何得至二十萬提督曰爾國文書中所言如此矣臣又曰賊兵豈有二十萬之理本國文書中安有此語提督曰文書有之不然吾豈知之臣又曰此大事願老爺更加三思節度使李薲又直前跪請將官以下皆揮斥而其中張總兵世爵尤主退駐之說至於聲色俱厲使之速退而提督溫言譬曉反覆不已臣不得已還退旣而三道體察使俞泓繼至令譯官傳告不可退歸之意則以爲已定云卽爲行軍還駐東坡京畿糧餉當初輸運遲緩艱困萬狀至於馬草則乏絕不繼且路傍原野賊皆焚蕩四山焚盡寸草不遺坡州一境尤甚百里之內無復村落所見慘酷。天兵所過馬死者相望於道其餘亦皆瘦瘠不堪馳驅種種悶迫非止一端京畿巡察使權徵監司李廷馨等全委措置體察使俞泓又爲檢擧非不盡力而事多未集大軍在道而糧草俱竭臣雖扣心而無可措之勢蓋緣此道久爲賊藪致此狼狽今到急迫計無所出唐糧未知今到何地急速催促不分晝夜輸到軍前以濟大事
On the twenty-sixth the Commander-in-Chief went from Gaeseong past Dongpa, crossed the shallows of the Imjin River, and halted his troops at Paju. On the twenty-seventh the Commander-in-Chief and Commandant Li (李都督) led something over a hundred of their household guard (家丁) and rode toward Byeokje, meaning to scout the capital in person; the several corps did not stir at all.
At dawn that day Brigade Commander Zha (査總兵) rode with the Defense Commander Go Eonbaek (高彥伯) to a place near Changneung. The enemy had set many troops in ambush among the mountain valleys and first sent out several hundred men to draw them on. The Brigade Commander directed his troops and fell upon them, and the enemy broke and scattered in flight, and those cut down and taken were nearly all of them. Just as he meant to draw off, a great host of the enemy's rear columns came up one after another.
When the Commander-in-Chief reached Hyeeum Pass and heard that there were enemy troops, he galloped his horse and rushed forward; on the road his horse stumbled and he fell and hurt his cheek a little, but after a good while he rose and thereupon pressed forward against the enemy's lines. The enemy host was several times greater than the Ming vanguard, and the Ming troops that were to come on behind had not yet arrived, so that the Ming troops came to be driven by the enemy and the Commander-in-Chief held the rear as he withdrew. The main army fell back rank upon rank and halted again at Paju. Of the Ming troops several hundred were killed and wounded, and one of the Commander-in-Chief's household guard whom he trusted closely died as well. The Commander-in-Chief wept bitterly on horseback, and when he came to Paju he wept in the night also. Your servants went at once to ask after him, and the Commander-in-Chief answered, "A commanding officer saw the enemy and withdrew first; it is for this that I have come back." He then ordered the several corps to set a strict watch and guard.
On the twenty-eighth, early in the morning, he meant to withdraw and halt at Dongpa, so your servant, together with the Supreme Commander Kim Myeongwon (金命元), the envoy-attendant Yi Deokhyeong (李德馨), the Minister of Taxation Yi Seongjung (李誠中), and the Patrol Commissioner Gwon Jing (權徵) and the rest, went forward and set forth at length that the army must not be withdrawn, pleading over and over. The Commander-in-Chief came out and stood in the middle of the courtyard, the several commanders ranged to left and right, and called your servants and said to them, "My army won yesterday and suffered no defeat besides. My wishing now to halt at Dongpa is not from any other intent. It is only that in this place the fodder for the horses is cut off and gone, that there is a river behind us, and that the cannon and the engines of war and the righteous troops of the south have not all arrived either. For this I mean to withdraw to Dongpa again, rest the troops some days, and set them in order once more and advance."
Your servants knelt together and set forth with all their strength that it must not be, and the chief of what they said was this. The main army has already advanced, and if it withdraw one step the enemy's spirit will ride their victory and the hearts of the people will be shaken; this opening is of the gravest moment. Moreover the righteous troops of the south and the commanders in every place, hearing that the main army had come, have all reached the Han River, and the army grain too is carried up one load after another. How can Your Honor not think of this and withdraw the army all at once? The people left in this place, hearing that the royal army was coming, have each of them borne and led their own and come seeking their old homesteads; and if they are now cast off and left they will surely all suffer harm from the enemy. How can this be borne?
The Commander-in-Chief said, "My first intent was indeed to come and scout, and my withdrawing and halting now is not from any other design; I wish only to rest the troops and come again." Your servants did not cease to contend with all their strength, and the Commander-in-Chief held up in his hand the memorial reporting to the Board of War and showed it. The chief of it was that the enemy troops at the capital were near two hundred thousand while the Ming troops were but a few myriad and many of these killed and wounded; and thereupon he asked that troops be added and grain carried up; and at the end he spoke also of the matter of his having an illness in his body.
Your servant pointed with his hand and said, "The Japanese enemy within the walls are at the most no more than ten thousand odd; how should they come to two hundred thousand?" The Commander-in-Chief said, "So it is said in the papers of your country." Your servant said again, "How should there be any reason for the enemy troops to be two hundred thousand, and how should such words be in the papers of this kingdom?" The Commander-in-Chief said, "They are in the papers. Were it not so, how should I know of it?" Your servant said again, "This is a great matter; we beg that Your Honor will think it over thrice more."
Yi Bin (李薲), the Provincial Military Commander, also went straight forward and knelt and begged, whereupon the commanders and all below them waved him off and drove him back; and among them Brigade Commander Zhang Shijue (張世爵) urged the talk of withdrawing and halting the more, so that his voice and his face grew altogether fierce and he bade him withdraw quickly, while the Commander-in-Chief did not cease to admonish and explain in mild words again and again. Your servant had no choice and came away. Soon after, Yu Hong (俞泓), the Inspector of the Three Provinces, arrived in turn and had an interpreter pass on the meaning that it must not be withdrawn, but it was said that the thing was already settled; and thereupon the army was moved and withdrew and halted at Dongpa.
The army grain of Gyeonggi was from the first slow in the carrying, and the hardships were of ten thousand kinds. As for the fodder for the horses, it has run out and is not kept up. Moreover the fields and plains beside the road the enemy have all burned away, so that the hills on four sides are burned bare and not an inch of grass is left; and the one district of Paju is the worse, for within a hundred li there is no village any more, and what meets the eye is piteous. Where the Ming troops pass, dead horses lie in sight of one another along the road, and the rest are all so lean that they cannot bear to be driven. The straits of every kind do not stop at one.
Gwon Jing, the Gyeonggi Patrol Commissioner, and Yi Jeonghyeong (李廷馨), the Governor, and the rest have taken the whole charge of the provision, and the Inspector Yu Hong has looked to it besides, and it is not that they have not spent their strength; yet much of the business has not come together. The main army is upon the road and grain and fodder are both dried up. Though your servant beat his breast, there is no means by which to provide. In the main it is because this province was long the enemy's den that it has come to such a ruin. Now that we are brought to this urgency there is nowhere for a plan to come from. We do not know how far the Ming grain has now come; let it be urged with haste, and carried to the army's front without regard for day or night, that the great work may be accomplished.
Interlinear notes 2
正月二十九日
The twenty-ninth day of the first month
The source text writes surname, office, and given name mixed together. As this is one man, it has been made uniform as "Brigade Commander Zhang Shijue." — Translator