Urgent Report: Our Grain Run Out, and Begging Mercy for the People Left馳。啓我軍糧盡緣由且請寬恤遺民狀
忠淸道助防將洪季男牒呈內陣中自備軍糧百餘石在新昌地山寺督運御史以。天兵支待全數封閉他無餉士之路士皆潰散陽竹之賊倍前鴟張而助防將處於賊兵要衝之地散軍獨在束手無策不勝悶慮云云義僧將惟政牒報內於黃海道僧人處募得軍糧若干石而檢察使御史盡數封閉軍人無路繼餉云云。天兵糧餉雖重而若於未及進兵之前我國軍兵先爲潰散使賊兵深入墜突於後則雖有大軍追到而何及於事乎凡事所當參詳彼此輕重之勢周遍處置然後可無狼狽之事而近日奉。命及該掌之官一諉於天兵之糧遠近公私之糓盡取錙銖無復餘儲他餘官家所用及救民耕種之事已無可言至於本國軍糧全無辦出之計處處潰散無可奈何如江原道伊川平康鐵原安峽之糓旣無贏餘故防禦使李時言鄭希玄助防將朴名賢成川判官朴震男之軍雖自北道出來而逃散殆盡餘存者飢餓困極不可成軍而京城以東焚蕩殺掠之賊不可遮截矣李薲所率之軍當初有三千六百餘名而京畿亦不酬應軍糧至於七八日盡爲飢疲幾盡散亡死者三十餘人馬之倒損六百餘匹不復自立不得已附合於全羅巡察使之陣晚雖除出唐糧略略支給皆已病困面如藍鬼而爲無用之軍矣漢江以南京畿左道之糓不計種子盡皆備數於。天兵之糧而軍無可食擧皆潰散故賊兵散出攻怯於數百里之內殺掠無數而無一人出禦左道不可爲矣忠淸道沿路一帶必須嚴兵把截要害且戰且守然後可以禦賊而如洪季男者亦以無食散軍則他何可望今日事勢潰裂百出首尾心腹不相顧護可爲寒心切骨傳聞黃海道以及江華等處括粟之令急於星火軍官無識之輩遍歷閭𨶒雖無斗升之米而勒定責出呼哭盈路不可忍聞云此亦雖出於不得已當此民心潰散之際亦當少有斟酌使公私兩濟如其自願募納者外飢民下戶少加寬恤以示國家愛民之意則所失不多而爲益甚大敢乞。朝廷十分參詳指揮毋令有難處之患
The report submitted by Hong Gyenam (洪季男), Assistant Commander of Chungcheong Province, says: 「Over a hundred seok of military grain which this camp had provided for itself lay in a mountain temple in the land of Sinchang, but the Censor for Supervising Transport has sealed it all up, saying it is for the entertainment of the Ming troops. There being no other way to feed the soldiers, the soldiers have all broken up and scattered. The enemy at Yangji and Juksan are twice as rampant as before, and your Assistant Commander, placed at the enemy's chief passage, with his troops scattered and himself left alone, has his hands bound and no device left; he cannot master his distress and anxiety.」
The report submitted by Yujeong (惟政), commander of the righteous monk troops, says: 「I gathered and got a few seok of military grain from the monks of Hwanghae Province, but the Inspector-General and the Censor have sealed it all up, so that there is no way to go on feeding the soldiers.」
The provisions of the Ming troops are weighty indeed. Yet if our country's soldiers break and scatter first, before the troops advance, so that the enemy soldiers come deep in and strike us from behind, then though a great army follow after and arrive, what will it come in time for? In all matters one must weigh the heaviness and lightness of this side and that and dispose of them all round; only then will there be no coming to ruin.
But of late the officials sent under command and the officials in charge have alike put everything off upon the Ming troops' provisions, and have gathered up to the last grain all the grain of public and private hands, far and near, so that nothing is left. Of the rest, what the public offices are to use, and the relieving of the people, and the work of ploughing, there is already nothing to be said. As for our own country's military grain, there is no plan at all for providing it, and everywhere the troops break and scatter; nothing can be done.
The grain of Icheon, Pyeonggang, Cheorwon and Anhyeop in Gangwon Province is already gone with nothing left. Therefore, although the troops of the Defense Commanders Yi Sieon (李時言) and Jeong Hihyeon (鄭希玄), of the Assistant Commander Bak Myeonghyeon (朴名賢), and of the Seongcheon Deputy Magistrate Bak Jinnam (朴震男) came out of the northern provinces, they have fled and scattered until they are all but gone, and those who remain are starved and worn out to the utmost and cannot be made into an army. They cannot block and cut off the enemy who burn and kill and plunder east of the capital.
The troops led by Yi Bin (李薲) were at first three thousand six hundred odd men. But Gyeonggi too furnished them no military grain, so that by the seventh and eighth day they were all starved and worn out; nearly all have scattered and fled, thirty-odd have died, and of the horses more than six hundred have fallen and been hurt, so that they can no longer stand of themselves. There was nothing for it but to attach them to the camp of the Patrol Commissioner of Jeolla. Late though it was, some of the Ming provisions were spared and a portion given out to them, but they are all sick and worn out already, their faces like indigo-colored ghosts, so that they have become useless soldiers.
The grain of the left circuit of Gyeonggi south of the Han River has all been counted into the Ming troops' provisions, the seed grain included without reckoning. The soldiers, having nothing to eat, have broken up and scattered to the last man. Therefore the enemy soldiers spread out and strike and terrify, killing and plundering within a space of several hundred li beyond all reckoning, and there is not one man who advances to block them; the left circuit has become a thing that cannot be helped.
Along the main road through Chungcheong Province, only if the troops are made strict and the strategic passes blocked and held while fighting can the enemy be stopped. But even such a man as Hong Gyenam has scattered his troops for want of food; what then is to be hoped of other places? The posture of this day is one of breaking and tearing coming out in a hundred ways, head and tail, breast and belly unable to look to one another; it is pitiful to the very bone.
Your servant hears it told that in Hwanghae Province and Ganghwa and such places the command to scrape together grain is more urgent than a shooting star. Bands of ignorant military officers go round the villages and, though the people have not a mal or a doe of rice, press them with a fixed quota and drive them to hand it over, so that wailing fills the roads and cannot be borne to hear.
This too has come of necessity. Yet at this time when the hearts of the people are breaking and scattering, there ought also to be some little weighing, so that public and private may cross over together. If, apart from those who offer of their own wish, the starving people and the poor households be dealt with a little more generously, and the state's mind of cherishing the people be shown, what is lost will not be much and the gain will be very great. Your servant dares to beg that the court weigh this fully and give direction, so that there be no trouble hard to deal with.
Interlinear notes 1
三月十日
The tenth day of the third month