Enemy Strength at the Capital, and Requesting That the Commander-in-Chief Advance and Crush Them馳城賊勢速請提督進勦狀

Of late, as to the shape of the enemy at the capital, the words that come from the scouts are after all not certain. In the main, that very many of the enemy host within the walls were killed in the fighting at Haengju on the twelfth is said alike by all who have fled back.

Jeong Geol (丁傑), naval commander of Chungcheong, told us, "On the fifteenth we came with the naval forces straight below the Yongsan granary (龍山倉) and faced the Japanese enemy and loosed our cannon; the enemy encamped along the river come to nearly twenty thousand." South of the Han River the enemy who burn and plunder from Sapyeongwon (沙平院) are fiercer than before, and the enemy's strength is great as far as the borders of Juksan, Chungju, and Eumjuk; and it is said that the enemy of Wonju have come and gathered at Chungju and carry up much army grain and fodder and stack it across from Tangeumdae.

Gwon Yul (權慄), the Jeolla Patrol Commissioner, upon hearing that the enemy troops meant to come against him again, shifted his camp all at once and came to Paju; and the troops south of Yangcheon, and the troops of Heo Uk (許頊), the Chungcheong Patrol Commissioner, and the troops of Seon Geoi (宣居怡), the Jeolla army commander, have also withdrawn again to hold Dokseong (禿城) at Suwon. This is because since the Ming troops withdrew and halted the hearts of the multitude have had nothing to lean upon, and all have withdrawn in disorder. Your servant meant to urge Gwon Yul again and have him go back and hold the fort at Haengju; but as the palisade there is already burned and the troops have nothing to rest upon, he was obliged to halt for now at the mountain fort behind Paju and make of it a plan for advancing and striking.

Chungcheong Province and the one road of Honam have only the small forces of the righteous troops, while the government troops are all gathered at the capital and those lands lie empty; so that should the enemy troops strike through and go down southward, the districts of the two provinces of Chungcheong and Jeolla would have no means at all of holding out, which is no small care. Therefore your servant has had the Chungcheong Patrol Commissioner divide his troops and hold the strong places of his own province, and has charged the righteous troops in every place again and again to meet them and cut them off with all their strength.

In the main the great care of today lies only in the grain having run out. The troops of Honam supply themselves after a fashion; but the troops led by Yi Bin (李薲), the frontier commander, are all men from far parts of Pyeongan Province, and their weariness and hardship from fighting on over into another year are already spent to the end, and having nothing to eat besides, more than half have fled. Those who remain are for the most part starving, their faces black, barely holding to their breath, and piteous to look upon. Besides these, the troops of Go Eonbaek (高彥伯) and the rest have long gone without their meals; and as the public offices and the households of the several districts are alike at the bottom and there is no way to provide anything, we were obliged to take out several hundred odd sacks of army grain and save the need of the moment, but this is after all no way that can last long. Such matters being pitiable, your servant knows not what to provide.

Of the Ming generals, Brigade Commander Zha (査總兵) stays at Dongpa, and Wang Bidi (王必迪) and Li Ning (李寧) and those below them are at Gaeseong. Your servant, together with the Supreme Commander Kim Myeongwon (金命元), pleads earnestly day by day and begs that the troops be sent out quickly, but they only say that they will ask leave of the chief commander, and will not resolve upon it. It is passed on and heard that Commander-in-Chief Li (李提督) now stays at Bongsan and has something of a repentant mind and means to turn the army about and head southward; and what the envoy-attendant passed on is to the same effect.

If, before the several bodies of the enemy have joined all their strength and while the grain has not so far run out, the great army should advance once more, a great merit could be accomplished. Let the court send a minister of weight apart to beg earnestly and with whole sincerity, that the great work may be accomplished.