Forwarding Brigade Commander Wang's Reply, and Sending Yi San-gyeom to Urge the Commander-in-Chief to Strike South of the Han王遊擊答書上送且使李山謙進去親論勦擊漢南賊屯形勢於提督狀
臣卽見王遊擊必迪答書其中有當事者有主和之意我故難以專主之語又云具禀經略及提督批示方可遵行其書監封上送從前。天將等已有講和之端而不肯明言蓋知我國痛心切骨於賊有寧死不和之意故前日沈遊擊往龍山時臣立於道左欲見而托以行忙馳去其還又不由此直自江華而去今又王遊擊所言如此若不於經略提督處痛陳力辨則將恐事機蹉失狼狽益甚而我國之事益無奈何不勝痛泣大槪倭奴雖憑據京城而其氣已衰若大軍牽掣其北而奇兵出於南道忠州以北一擧蕩滅則都城屯賊不待血刃而自潰此萬全之計不可失之機事勢灼然只在目前而遲疑不决師老力竭臣觀李山謙者頗有才氣言說通暢且從南方而來方留南兵二十餘人於其營故此處將官吳遊擊王遊擊以下於其所陳事情頗有傾聽萬一提督及經略一言見施則爲益不少山謙亦自願進去故使之速去臣前此已具呈文送于提督大意則已盡於其文伏乞。朝廷急速祈懇俾令大功有終
Your servant has now seen the reply of Brigade Commander Wang Bidi (王必迪), in which there were the words 「Those charged with the business have a mind for making peace, and so I cannot take it upon myself alone」, and further 「Only when it has been fully laid before the Military Commissioner and the Commander-in-Chief and their instruction received can it be carried out.」 That letter is sealed and sent up.
From before this the Ming generals had already shown the first threads of a wish to make peace, but would not speak plainly of it, chiefly because they knew that our country's heart aches and its bones are pierced on account of this enemy, and that it means rather to die than to make peace. Earlier, when Brigade Commander Shen (沈遊擊) went to Yongsan, your servant stood at the left of the road wishing to see him, but he made the excuse that his journey was pressing and rode off; and on his return too he did not pass this place but went straight away from Ganghwa. Now again Brigade Commander Wang's words are such as this; and your servant fears that unless it be reported bitterly and pressed hard where the Military Commissioner and the Commander-in-Chief are, the occasion of the business will be lost, the ruin will grow the deeper, and our country's affairs will become all the more beyond help. He cannot master his sorely weeping heart.
On the whole, though the Japanese hold the capital, their spirit is already spent. If the great army take hold of them and pull at them from the north, while a surprise force goes out to the southern circuit and sweeps away at one stroke all north of Chungju, then the enemy encamped in the capital will fall of themselves without waiting for a blade to be bloodied. This is a wholly safe plan and an opportunity not to be lost, and the posture of the business lies plain before our eyes; yet we hesitate and cannot resolve, while the troops grow old and their strength is spent.
Your servant has observed one Yi Sangyeom (李山謙): he has considerable ability and spirit, and his speech is open and clear; he has come besides from the south, and keeps just now some twenty and more southern soldiers in his camp. For this reason the generals and military officers here, from Brigade Commander Wu (吳遊擊) and Brigade Commander Wang down, lend a fairly ready ear to the circumstances he reports. If the Commander-in-Chief and the Military Commissioner should act upon even a word of it, the gain would be no small one; and as Sangyeom himself wishes to go, he has been sent off quickly.
Before this your servant had already drawn up a formal statement (呈文) and sent it to the Commander-in-Chief, so that the main purport is set out in full in that writing. He prostrates himself and begs that the court press the request earnestly and in haste, so that the great work may come to an end.
Interlinear notes 1
癸巳三月二十六日
The twenty-sixth day of the third month of the Gyesa year