The Prince's Letter from the Enemy Camp, and Discussing the Enemy with General Zha見賊陣出來。王子書仍與查將論賊勢狀
本月初七日臣聞黃指揮自江華來到將向坡州臣與金命元同在路傍邀見問之則以爲將往坡州及王京城外體探賊勢及道路而來云午時有琴連希稱名人持二。王子連名書及賊將淸正與馮相公小紙書以來推問則曰賊酋淸正云在安邊時唐將來到約和期在今月初十日欲通書問其來否而無人可使。王子使連希及楊州被虜人某同時出送云見其書則乃。王子與。天將及我國將官書近日賊勢日益可憂自南邊上來者甚多倡義使金千鎰生擒倭一名昨日送于此推問則曰日本大上官今在明月屋三月間似有出來之報云云雖其所言未必盡實亦不可謂無此理當初。天兵旣失機會使凶賊益生奸計而我國將士亦以。天兵同進爲諉遷延度日至於京畿左右道守令皆以。天兵支待之事棄官奔走盡散軍兵專治輸運供給之事至今未已漢江以南之賊日益熾盛連日焚蕩於衿川水原南陽之境還集之民又被殺戮南方之勢危急甚於西北而賊乃於此時求和豈其實情不過欲姑緩。天兵而留待後軍以逞兇計極爲寒心臣卽又見查將探其意向則查將求。王子書以看謂曰見王子之書不覺淚下將何以救出耶不如姑爲許和出送。王子然後徐爲之圖未晚也况天時向暖此地多稻畦不便進兵奈何臣答云使賊直欲講和退去其辱大矣况此賊實欲以此緩師而更逞凶計恐天朝與我國俱陷於賊術不可不察查將曰然則計將安出臣答云有一奇䇿恐老爺不從耳查將固問之臣答曰若大兵進駐開城東坡以作形勢而使奇兵出於南方先擊道路之賊出其不意攻其無備則賊兵之在京城者道路斷絕必從東邊向龍津等處而走因使萬餘兵先陣於楊州蟹踰嶺間從後追躡則賊必殲盡今日之計無踰於此查將擊節稱賞以手畫地指點形勢曰若然則賊必乞降之不暇而。王子可還矣假使不降將餓死俱盡且曰如此奇計何不早告吾將卽報于提督宰相亦自作書通於提督及經略臣答云前亦屢發其端而未能悉意昨日以此意已爲狀。啓而今承老爺肯許此乃天也查將方始釋然更不擧論講和之事卽將。王子書馳送于提督而其所自通之言則未知如何淸正與馮相公書留置不遣其意亦未知如何大槪觀唐將之意南將北將全不和協昨日黃應暘之來查將大不悅令臣等不發人馬亟止其行而臣辭以不敢今此不送淸正與馮之書亦恐同是一樣意思惟此一事極爲痛悶爲我國不幸之甚古者兵交使在其間。王子之書如此機關極重何以處之可以合宜與否非臣愚劣所敢料度。朝廷急速詳審善處毋失事機宋經略出來與否急速傳諭以定人心
On the seventh of this month your servant, hearing that Jihwi Huang (黃指揮) had come from Ganghwa and meant to make for Paju, waited by the roadside together with Kim Myeongwon (金命元) and met him and asked him, and he said that he had come to go out to Paju and outside the walls of the capital and look at the enemy's posture and the roads.
At midday one named Geum Yeonhui (琴連希) came bearing a letter with the two princes' names written side by side, and a small paper letter from the enemy commander Kiyomasa (淸正) to His Excellency Feng (馮相公). On being questioned he said this. The enemy's head man Kiyomasa said that while he was at Anbyeon (安邊) a Ming general had come and appointed the tenth of this month as the term for making peace, and that he wished to send a letter and ask whether that man was coming but had no one to send; and so the princes sent out Yeonhui together with a certain man who had been taken captive at Yangju. Looking at the letter, it proved to be a letter from the princes to the Ming generals and to our country's generals and military officers.
The enemy's posture of late grows more worrying by the day, and those coming up from the south are very many. Kim Cheonil (金千鎰), commissioner for raising righteous troops, took one Japanese alive and sent him here yesterday; and on being questioned he said: 「The great high officer (大上官) of Japan is now at Myeongwolok (明月屋), and there seems to be word that he will come out in the course of the third month.」 What he said is surely not all true, yet neither can it be said that there is no reason in it.
From the first the Ming troops had already lost their chance and so let the cruel enemy work their crafty designs the more, and our own country's commanders and soldiers too made it their excuse that they were to advance together with the Ming troops, and so put things off and let the days pass. The magistrates of the left and right circuits of Gyeonggi have all abandoned their offices and run about over the business of entertaining and supplying the Ming troops, scattering away all their soldiers and attending only to the carrying and the furnishing, and have not ceased to this day. The enemy south of the Han River grow stronger by the day and burn the borders of Geumcheon (衿川), Suwon (水原) and Namyang (南陽) day after day, so that the people who had come back and gathered are killed as well. The posture of the south is more perilous than that of the northwest, and the enemy seek peace at such a time as this; how should that be their true mind? It is no more than that they would slacken the Ming troops for the present and await their rear force in order to work their cruel designs; it is most pitiful.
Your servant then saw General Zha (査將) again and looked to see where his mind lay; and General Zha asked to see the princes' letter and, having read it, said: 「Reading the princes' letter, the tears come without my knowing it. How are they to be got out? For the present let peace be allowed, so that the princes be sent out, and then it will not be too late to plan at leisure. Still more, the weather is growing warm and this place has many paddy fields, so that it is inconvenient for moving troops forward; what is to be done?」
Your servant answered: 「If the enemy be let make peace outright and withdraw, the disgrace of it is great. Still more, this enemy truly means by this to slacken the troops and work their cruel designs again, and it is to be feared that both the Ming court and our country will fall into the enemy's device. It cannot be left unexamined.」 General Zha said: 「If that be so, what plan would you put forward?」 Your servant said: 「There is one remarkable plan, but I fear Your Honor will not follow it.」 At this General Zha pressed him to say it.
Your servant answered: 「If the great army go forward and halt at Gaeseong and Dongpa (東坡) to make a show of force, while a surprise force (奇兵) is sent out to the south to strike first the enemy along the road, going out where they do not look for it and striking where there is no guard, then the enemy in the capital, their road cut, will surely flee eastward toward Yongjin (龍津) and such places. Then, if ten thousand and more troops be set to encamp beforehand about Haeyuryeong (蟹踰嶺) in Yangju, and the rest press on their heels from behind, the enemy will surely all perish. For the plan of this day there is nothing better than this.」
General Zha struck his knee in praise and traced the ground with his hand to point out the lie of it, saying: 「If it were done so, the enemy would surely have no leisure even to beg surrender, and the princes could come back. Even granting they did not surrender, they would starve to death and be wholly gone.」 He said also: 「Why did you not speak of such a remarkable plan earlier? I shall tell the Commander-in-Chief at once. Let the Minister too write of his own hand and send word to the Commander-in-Chief and to the Military Commissioner.」 Your servant answered: 「I have put forward the head of this talk several times before but could not say out my whole mind, and yesterday I already sent up a report with this purport. Now that I have Your Honor's glad consent, this is Heaven's doing.」
Only then did General Zha's mind ease, and he did not again take up and argue the matter of peace, but at once sent the princes' letter by rider to the Commander-in-Chief. What he said in his own message is not known. The letter from Kiyomasa to His Excellency Feng he kept by him and did not send, and what he means by that is likewise not known.
On the whole, looking at the minds of the Ming generals, the southern generals and the northern generals do not agree at all. When Hwang Eungyang (黃應陽) came yesterday, General Zha was greatly displeased and would have had your servants furnish no men or horses and so block his going in haste, but your servant begged off, saying that he dared not. Now it is to be feared that his not sending Kiyomasa's letter to Feng is of the same mind. This one thing alone frets us greatly; our country's misfortune is deep.
In ancient times, though armies were locked together, envoys passed between them. The princes' letter being such as this, the moment of the business is of the gravest. How it ought to be dealt with is not a thing that your servant in his foolishness and unworthiness dares to weigh. Let the court look into it closely in haste and deal well with it, so that the occasion of the business be not lost. Let it also be told in haste whether the Military Commissioner Song is coming out or not, so that the hearts of men may be settled.
Interlinear notes 2
癸巳三月二十四日
The twenty-fourth day of the third month of the Gyesa year
The base text has 黃應暘.