The Enemy Beaten Back from the Camp of Gwon Yul, Governor of Jeolla馳。啓賊兵犯全羅監司權慄陣敗退狀
他餘事前已狀。啓天兵尙留開城府臣以料理軍事欲與元帥金命元相議處置來到東坡本月十二日午時李薲馳報內京中賊多出陽川犯全羅巡察使權慄駐軍之處時方接戰云云臣前到臨津令各陣及義兵急速馳救十三日曉頭李薲馳報內倭賊三衛出來一衛持白旗一衛持紅旗一衛持黑旗圍抱接戰良久三衛皆爲我軍所敗死者甚多遁出又據義兵將禹性傳馳報賊兵來犯全羅陣聞報卽時分軍繼援又自率舟師水陸繼援次發去云云近日賊兵自平壤敗歸之後不敢出入已久而。天兵久不前進賊又生心連日出没漢江以南其數尤多不勝痛心。天將之意雖未詳知當初碧蹄輕進不利一向退縮每諉以天晴路乾則當進云而懼賊在城中者甚多近日體探之人還自城中者多言賊兵幾盡出去。天將欲於數日後進兵適有譯官吳廷福者十餘日前自江華來謁。天將因請自爲體探挾唐人一名同行久未還來昨日始爲來到徑自入見天將言賊兵之在城中者無慮三四萬且言陪臣等使我言賊少而今以實告當得罪云。天將甚信其說更停進兵之計且留廷福在側以防得罪此輩情狀極爲叵測徐當觀勢處置糧餉則南方船運今始來到東坡站下到泊者米八千餘石豆三千餘石足爲六七日之需而今方南方之糓連續來到糧餉粗繼若能及時進兵賊兵不無望風退北之理而。天將之意亦無速前之計臣與接待等官苦口力陳到此再三呈文只言不滅倭寇無退歸之理愼勿致疑云云而觀其處置則有退無進百計乖張罔知攸措
The rest of the matters your servant has already reported in an earlier dispatch. The Ming troops still remain at Gaeseong, and your servant, to weigh the business of arms and consult with the Supreme Commander Kim Myeongwon (金命元) and dispose of it, has come to Dongpa.
On the twelfth day of this month, at midday, Yi Bin (李薲), the frontier commander, came riding to tell us, "The enemy at the capital have come out to Yangcheon in numbers and have fallen upon the place where Gwon Yul (權慄), the Jeolla Patrol Commissioner, had halted his troops, and they are now closed and fighting." Your servant had earlier reached Imjin and bidden the several camps and the righteous troops ride with haste to their relief.
At dawn on the thirteenth the frontier commander Yi Bin told us, "The Japanese enemy came out in three bands, one bearing white flags, one red flags, and one black flags, and they closed us round and fought long; but all three bands were beaten by our troops, and those killed were very many, and they fled." And according to what U Seongjeon (禹性傳), a commander of the righteous troops, told us, upon hearing word that the enemy troops were coming to strike the Jeolla camp he at once divided his troops and had them go in relief one after another, and himself led the naval forces besides and set out to relieve them by water and by land together.
Of late the enemy troops, since they were beaten at Pyongyang and went back, had long not dared to come and go; but as the Ming troops have long not advanced, the enemy have taken heart again and appear daily south of the Han River, and their numbers grow greater still. Your servant cannot master the pain of his heart.
The Ming general's intent cannot be known in detail; but since he first went forward lightly at Byeokje (碧蹄) and failed to win, he has shrunk back without change and always puts it off, saying, "When the sky clears and the roads dry I shall advance," while fearing that the enemy within the walls are very many. Of late the scouts who have come back from within the walls say for the most part that the enemy troops have nearly all gone out, and so the Ming general meant to send out his troops after some days.
It happened that a certain interpreter, Oh Jeongbok (吳廷福), came from Ganghwa something over ten days ago and saw the Ming general and asked leave to scout on his own; and taking a Ming man with him he went, and did not come back for a long while, and only yesterday arrived. He went straight in to see the Ming general and said that the enemy troops within the walls were, at a rough reckoning, thirty or forty thousand; and he said besides, "The ministers of this country had me say that the enemy were few, and now that I report the truth I shall get myself punished." The Ming general believed his words greatly and stopped his design of sending out troops again, and he keeps Oh Jeongbok at his side besides and shields him from punishment; the inward designs of this sort are most hard to reckon. Your servant will watch the shape of things slowly and dispose of it.
As for army grain, what was carried by boat from the south has only now reached below the Dongpa ferry, and what has arrived is eight thousand odd sacks of rice and three thousand odd of beans, which is plenty for six or seven days' use. The grain of the south is now coming one load after another, so that the army grain is kept up after a fashion. If the troops were sent out without losing the moment, there is no reason why the enemy should not flee at the mere sight of the wind; yet the Ming general's intent has no design of advancing quickly either.
Your servant, together with the officers who attend upon them, has urged it until his mouth is worn out, and since coming here has sent up letters two or three times, saying only, "There is no reason for them to withdraw and go back without destroying the Japanese raiders; do not, we pray, be in doubt." But to look at their disposing of it, there is withdrawing only and no advancing, and every design is thwarted, so that your servant knows not what to provide.