Forwarding a Sealed Letter from the Enemy Camp賊中出來書封上送狀
節到付倡義使金千鎰水使丁傑李蘋等本月十四日成貼馳報內守門將李藎忠黃廷彧孽族安鐸一時十三日入送賊中當日午時持書還出來言內與安鐸等自大古介經藥田前路至靑坡石橋下從橋下川邊之路越川過十餘家至一大家乃賊將淸正所在之處見淸正者年可三十與兩。王子共坐堂中盞忠就拜。王子前俯伏而哭。王子亦哭淸正再三回顧有不豫之色王子卽止哭問西關消息淸正使譯者問曰遠來危地無乃爲苦譯者乃前日叛國沙火同之弟云賊將指二。王子曰公見。王子肌膚顏色如何少無羸瘠可知吾厚待也且曰講和之事何以爲之速示可否則欲決行止今欲向關西而以講和一事迄今遲滯何以遷延無黑自乎今者日本關白發諸島之兵朝暮渡海入驅朝鮮直擣中原則悔無所及何不速爲之處藎忠答曰目令天將率百萬之師與本國報讎之兵振旅而來日本能戰則戰非所知也但講和之事我國難擅故禀於天將天將禀於天子往來禀。命之際動以旬月豐能速决賊將笑曰然仍與藎忠等對飯行酒三杯然後乃召黃廷彧父子及李瑛各自異處而來亦行酒三杯曰朝鮮上官今來于此公等相與傅言上官吿于大將前轉報。天將速定和議可也俄而賊將曰我有不得已入京事公等共坐于此以待吾還遂出去諸卒下之倭縵立帳外而守之。王子及三人共坐燈下各道辛苦之狀慘不恐聞。王子身著毛段道袍頭戴毛冠貂皮耳掩曰我常著白衣而今日則倭將逼令改著華服固辭則怒曰君欲著陋服示我薄待之意於來使乎云云故著之矣臨海君擧冠露額指瘡痕曰上來之時中路賊將持棒亂打傷破之處也黃廷彧亦曰路中以我爲知傳國寶所在之處而不爲指示無數歐打幾死得生李瑛則曰吾罵賊不屈再三欲殺而止頑命不死辱國之耻其可忍言云兩。王子欲乘賊將之出還入房中備書私簡云還入所寓處卽是翼廊房也夜深賊將始歸直入其房故三人及藎忠與從倭宿于別處翼日平明賊將使人問訊朝食後因授送。天將之書及兩。王子答書及諺書而皆不復相見因爲出來自京江至賊在之處十里之間處處橫屍人頭散亂臭穢難近而賊倭蹴踏而行云其李藎忠持來賊將送。天將書適沈遊擊來到求見故納于遊擊不得上使又有行在所了無臣字長紙封書開見則三擄臣聯名之書而言多可駭痛憤莫甚所當卽投火中而旣已開見棄置不可幷。王子答書皆爲上使事牒呈云云所謂。王子書一封則上送三擄臣一書則外書。行在所開圻而內外皆無臣字但云長溪君南兵使行護軍各著署而筆畫則似是黃赫所書旣無臣字而言多可駭此則必是賊將脅勒使爲極爲痛心故元書則不敢上送而其間事情則。朝廷不容不知故一依其樣謄書上送諺書則未來故移文推問矣臣等雖在此處而。天將所爲頓未聞知雖問於查將而亦未明言大槪以此擧止觀之則明有講和之意沈惟敬周弘謨旣爲進去十四日臣以看審全羅營出火事往在坡州日暮時唐人四五十騎馳來問之則以爲欲向京城云昨日又有指揮吳宗男者乃與黃應陽前日往來之人自寶山持宋經略牌文回來見從事官辛慶晉語之曰爾國糧草不敷而春耕已迫若過數十日百姓當糜爛俱盡賊若欲和退兵則不可不許其通貢而與之講解云因卽馳去臣自前年以後屢與唐人相接察其言語而得其情事只欲講解退兵以息兵禍爲心雖知我國於此賊有不共戴天之讐痛心切骨而不肯遽言其講解其實用兵之意未爲堅定蓋自碧蹄退軍之後無意於更進臣爲之日夜焦心痛骨而今此事勢又如此我國雖欲竭力呌呼其可得乎尤可悶痛者我國財殫於支給力竭於轉輸非徒京畿爲然忠淸全羅道無復有可支之勢且奉使督運之官多是年少不經事之人一諉於。天兵支待之急竭取公私之儲無復餘力而盡散官軍義兵不復以把守爲心故自漢江以南以及忠州之界一樣空虛而賊兵方四出搶掠遂日不已南方事勢日益危急臣本以庸劣無狀冒此重任徒以文移摧督而軍兵一散之後難可復合且到處倉糓無餘其僅得收聚者亦皆盡入於。天兵之糧。啓聞其數以示唐將不敢他用此外更無可措之䇿若非。朝廷深惟彼此之勢早賜指揮則如臣愚劣雖萬被誅難免誤事之罪至於和戰二策乃是國家存亡所係假使事勢極難實出於不得已之計天將猶當與我國十分商確臨機善處而使我不得與聞端緒尤爲悶欝李藎忠入送事則金千鎰等不禀於臣等而徑自爲之事涉率爾而因此探知賊勢不至於大害故姑未深責
The urgent report sealed on the fourteenth day of this month by Kim Cheonil (金千鎰), commissioner for raising righteous troops, and the naval commanders Jeong Geol (丁傑) and Yi Bin (李蘋) and the rest has just arrived. In it they say that on the thirteenth day they sent in together to the enemy camp the gate officer Yi Sinchung (李藎忠) and An Tak (安鐸), of the secondary line of Hwang Jeonguk's (黃廷彧) house, and that at midday the same day these came back out bearing letters and said:
「Together with An Tak and the rest I passed by way of Daegogae along the road in front of the medicine fields and came to the foot of the stone bridge at Cheongpa. Following the streamside path under the bridge, I crossed the stream, passed some fifteen houses, and came to one large house, which was the place where the enemy commander Kiyomasa (淸正) was. Looking at Kiyomasa, he was about thirty years of age, and he was sitting on the floored hall together with the two princes. I went forward and bowed before the princes and lay prostrate weeping, and the princes wept too. As Kiyomasa looked round two or three times with a displeased air, the princes soon ceased weeping and asked for news of the western provinces.
Kiyomasa had his interpreter ask: 「You have come to a far and perilous place; is it not hard for you?」 The interpreter is said to be the younger brother of Sahwadong (沙火同), who turned traitor to the country in former days.
The enemy commander pointed to the two princes and said: 「How do you find the princes' color and countenance? They are not in the least wasted, so you may know that I have treated them well.」 He said also: 「What do you mean to do about the matter of making peace? Show quickly what is right and what is wrong, and I shall settle whether to go or to stay. Now I mean to turn toward the western provinces, yet because of this one matter of peace it has dragged on until now; why only put it off and have no black and white of it? If now the kanpaku (關白) of Japan brings out the troops of the several islands and crosses the sea morning or evening, drives through Joseon and strikes straight at the Central Plain, there will be no overtaking it with regret; why then do you not settle it quickly?」
I answered: 「At present the Ming general leads a host of a million, and comes with his force displayed together with our country's troops of vengeance. If Japan can fight, let it fight; that is no concern of mine. Only, the matter of making peace is hard for our country to decide of itself, and so we ask of the Ming general, and the Ming general asks of the Son of Heaven; and in the going and coming of these requests for orders it readily takes ten days or a month. How can it be settled quickly?」
The enemy commander laughed and said 「That is so」, and then sat facing me and ate, and passed round three cups of wine; after which he called Hwang Jeonguk and his son and Yi Yeong (李瑛), bidding each come from a different place, and passed round three cups of wine to them as well. Then he said: 「An officer of Joseon has now come here; do you gentlemen pass word together to this officer, that he may report it before your great general and have it carried on to the Ming general, so that the peace be settled quickly. That is the right course.」
Presently the enemy commander said: 「I have business in the capital that I cannot put off; do you gentlemen sit here together and wait for my return」, and so at last went out. Numbers of lesser Japanese underlings stood ranged outside the tent on guard.
The princes and the three men sat together under the lamp and each told of his bitter and galling plight, so cruel that it could not be borne to hear. The princes had on their bodies robes of fine damask and on their heads fur caps with sable earflaps, and they said: 「I have always worn white clothes, but today the Japanese general pressed me to change into gay clothing. When I firmly refused he grew angry and said, 『Do you mean to wear mean clothes in order to show the envoy who is coming that I treat you shabbily?』 and so I put them on.」
Prince Imhae lifted his cap and bared his forehead, and pointing to the scars of sores said: 「These are the places where, on the way up, the enemy commander took a cudgel and beat me at will, so that I was hurt and the skin burst.」 Hwang Jeonguk too said: 「On the road they took it that I knew where the state seal was, and because I did not point it out they beat me beyond counting, so that I nearly died and then revived.」 Yi Yeong said: 「I reviled the enemy and would not bend, and two or three times they were about to kill me and stopped. My stubborn life has not ended; how can I bear to speak of the shame of having brought disgrace upon the country?」
It is said that the two princes, taking the chance of the enemy commander's being out, went back into the room and wrote out private letters. The lodging they went back into is the wing room. Late in the night the enemy commander at last returned and went straight into that room, and so the three men and I slept in another place together with the Japanese who had come with us. At dawn the next day the enemy commander sent a man to ask after us, and after the morning meal he gave us the letter for the Ming general and the two princes' replies and a letter in the native script, and sent us off; we did not see them again at all and came straight out. In the ten li between the capital river and the place where the enemy are, corpses lay across the way in place after place and men's heads were scattered about, the stench so foul that one could hardly come near, yet the Japanese went about kicking them with their feet.」
As for the letter from the enemy commander to the Ming general which Yi Sinchung brought, Brigade Commander Shen happened to come and ask to see it, and so it was handed over to the Brigade Commander and could not be sent up. There was also a long sealed paper addressed to the temporary royal residence, with not one word of 「your servant」 in it; on opening it, it proved to be a letter written with the names of the three captive ministers set side by side, and its words were in many places such as to startle, so that nothing could be more grievous and galling. It ought to have been thrown into the fire at once, but since it had already been opened it was not right to leave it lying; and so, together with the princes' replies, they report that they are sending all of it up.
The one letter said to be the princes' is sent up. The one letter of the three captive ministers has written on its outside 「To be opened at the temporary royal residence」, but neither outside nor within is there any place where they call themselves your servants. They write only Janggyegun, Army Commander of the South, and Acting Chief of the Royal Guard, and each has signed; the hand appears to be Hwang Hyeok's (黃赫). Since there is no place where they call themselves your servants and the words are in many places such as to startle, this must surely have been forced upon them by the enemy commander's threats, and it is bitterly grievous. Therefore your servant does not dare to send up the letter itself, but, since the circumstances of the affair cannot be left unknown to the court, he has it copied out exactly as it stands and sends it up. The letter in the native script has not come, and so a dispatch has been sent to ask after it.
Though your servants are in this place, they hear nothing at all of what the Ming general is doing, and when they ask General Zha (査將) he too does not speak plainly. Taking this conduct as a whole, it is clear that there is a mind to make peace. Shen Weijing (沈惟敬) and Zhou Hongmo (周弘謨) have already gone forward.
On the fourteenth your servant was at Paju, to look into the fire in the Jeolla camp. At nightfall some forty or fifty Ming horsemen came riding up, and on being asked said that they meant to make for the capital. Yesterday again there was one called Jihwi O Jongdo (吳宗道), who is the man that used to come and go in former days together with Hwang Eungyang (黃應陽), and he had come back from Bosan bearing the Military Commissioner Song's (宋經略) placard. Seeing the aide Sin Gyeongjin (辛慶晉), he said: 「Your country is not well supplied with grain and fodder, and the spring ploughing is already at hand. If some tens of days pass, the people will surely rot away and be gone. If the enemy wish to make peace and withdraw their troops, we cannot but allow them the opening of the tribute road and come to terms with them」, and then rode off.
Since last year your servant has met with Ming men many times and, marking their words, has learned how things stand: their mind is set only on coming to terms, withdrawing the troops, and so bringing the fighting to an end. Though they know that this enemy is to our country a foe with whom we cannot live under one heaven, and that we grieve for it to the very bone, so that they will not readily speak of coming to terms, yet in truth their resolve to use troops is not firmly fixed. On the whole, since they withdrew the troops at Byeokje they have had no mind to advance again. For this your servant frets day and night and aches in his bones; and now that the posture of things is such as this, how could our country cry out with all its strength even if it would?
What is still more pitiful and grievous is that our country's wealth is spent in the furnishing and its strength spent in the carrying, and that not Gyeonggi alone but Chungcheong and Jeolla Provinces as well have no strength left to hold out. Moreover the officials who come under command to press on the transport are commonly young men who have not been through affairs, and they put everything off upon the urgency of entertaining the Ming troops and gather up what is stored in public and private hands to the very bottom, so that no strength is left. The government troops and the righteous troops have all scattered and no longer set their minds on holding anything. Therefore from south of the Han River to the border of Chungju all is alike empty, while the enemy soldiers are coming out on every side and plundering without a day's cease; and the posture of the south grows more perilous by the day.
Your servant is of himself mean and of no account, and has taken upon him this heavy charge; he can do no more than press matters by dispatch, and once the troops have scattered they are hard to gather again. Further, in every place the granary grain is gone with nothing left, and even what was barely gathered in has all gone into the Ming troops' provisions. The amount has been reported and shown to the Ming general, and so he dares not use it otherwise. Beyond this there is no plan left for making shift. If the court does not weigh deeply the posture of this side and that and send down direction early, then such a foolish and worthless man as your servant, though he be cut down ten thousand times, will hardly escape the guilt of having spoiled the business.
The two courses, peace and war, are that upon which the state's survival or ruin hangs. Even granting that the posture of things is most hard and that the course taken truly comes of necessity, still the Ming general ought to weigh and discuss it fully with our country and settle it well as the occasion requires. Yet they let us hear not even the first thread of it, which is the more vexing.
As for the sending in of Yi Sinchung, Kim Cheonil and the rest did it of their own accord without asking your servants, and the matter touches on rashness. But since by this means the enemy's posture was felt out and no great harm came of it, they have not yet been deeply reproved.
Interlinear notes 5
癸巳三月十六日在東坡
The sixteenth day of the third month of the Gyesa year, at Dongpa
The base text has 吳宗男, taken here as an error for 吳宗道.
Jihwi (指揮) is a Ming military office.
Janggyegun (長溪君) was Hwang Jeonguk's title of nobility.
Brigade Commander Shen is Shen Weijing (沈惟敬).