Urgent Report on the Commander-in-Chief's Doings馳。啓提督所爲狀
臣等再昨面見提督提督明示進兵之意且言明日當先送南方炮手于臨津及坡州臣等不勝喜幸意有庶幾之望然且難恃退而呈文極陳和戰利害則提督亦以其言爲是至於逐段批示今日查總兵密遣通事申應冲言於臣曰沈雖往來龍山而獨不見平壤之事乎須勿傳播此意亦須放心勿爲用慮可也且遣毋遊擊率兵探視東邊道路若將進兵之爲者卽刻見倡義使金千鎰馳報謄書狀。啓之辭則似專出於講解怳惚莫測頭緒臣等前夜因。陵寢之變號泣提督門外提督密使通事附耳分付云兵機不可漏洩今但言。天將欲爲講解使賊聞此言而已切不可言用兵此意陪臣何不知而輕率如此乎云云而然臣等所料則終有所不可測知者恐是以此慰解臣等而實主於講解尤爲悶痛萬一賊兵退歸則臣前日已令京畿忠淸等道紏合官義之兵相機勦擊而近日又送義勇隊及軍官李忠韓士立申晛金克忠等分道設伏於漢江以南更爲約束於此處諸將使之觀勢進勦毋失機會
When your servants met the Commander-in-Chief the day before yesterday, the Commander-in-Chief clearly showed a purpose of advancing the troops, and said also that tomorrow he would send the southern gunners first to Imjin and Paju. Your servants could not master their joy and sense of good fortune and had almost the thought that it might be hoped for, yet it was hard to believe besides; and so they withdrew and submitted a formal statement (呈文), reporting to the utmost the gain and the harm of peace and of war; and the Commander-in-Chief too held the words right and even gave his instruction paragraph by paragraph.
Today Regional Commander Zha (査總兵) secretly sent the interpreter Sin Eungchung (申應冲) to say to your servant: 「Brigade Commander Shen goes to and fro at Yongsan, but has he not seen what happened at Pyeongyang? Pray do not spread this abroad. As for this purport too, it is well to set your mind at ease and not be anxious.」 He also sent Brigade Commander Mou (毋遊擊) to lead troops and look at the eastern road, as though he meant to advance the troops. Yet when your servants saw the words that Kim Cheonil (金千鎰), commissioner for raising righteous troops, sent by rider and that were copied into the report sent up, it seemed to come wholly out of peace-making, so that all is dim and its drift cannot be reckoned.
When your servants cried aloud last night outside the Commander-in-Chief's gate over the outrage at the royal tombs, the Commander-in-Chief secretly had the interpreter put his mouth to our ears and give this order: 「Military secrets cannot be let leak out. For now we only say that the Ming generals mean to make peace, so that the enemy may hear these words; on no account say that troops are to be used. How is it that you subjects do not understand this purport and are so rash?」 Yet in what your servants reckon there is something that in the end cannot be reckoned out, and they fear that he comforts and puts them off with this while in truth he is for peace; and this frets them the more.
If the enemy soldiers should withdraw and go back, your servant has already had the government troops and righteous troops of Gyeonggi, Chungcheong and the other provinces rallied to watch for the chance and strike. Of late he has also sent the Righteous Valor Corps and the military officers Yi Chung (李忠), Han Sarip (韓士立), Sin Hyeon (申晛) and Kim Geukchung (金克忠) and the rest to divide the roads and set ambushes south of the Han River. Again he has settled terms with the several commanders here, that they watch the posture of things and go forward and strike, so that the chance be not lost.
Interlinear notes 3
四月十一日
The eleventh day of the fourth month
Baesin (陪臣): as seen from the Son of Heaven, a term for the subject of a vassal lord
The base text gives only the surname, 「沈」.