Entering the Capital with the Ming Generals: Its Condition, and Orders to Cut Off the Enemy隨。天將入城後馳。啓城中形止及分付諸將邀截賊兵狀
昨日提督自東坡入城事則已爲馳。啓臣日暮隨入城中倭賊已盡出去而。天將隨後護行故諸軍不敢追擊高彥伯之軍自東大門先入擊斬落後之倭五級李山輝自西道而入斬六級李薲斬一級而皆畏。天將之令隱置他處矣臣等與權慄李廷馨成泳等進提督門外致謝收復之意則提督答曰議政過我今則致謝耶因云明日相見蓋臣以進兵之意累日苦口論辨而。天將不從故其言如此城中形止則日暮未及詳知今日諸處。廟社宮闕陵寢分道奉審追後馳。啓計料自慕華館白骨堆積城中則人馬顚仆而死者不計其數臭穢滿路人不可近人家亦存四五分之一不勝痛哭。天將出令云倭賊不出。王子以去我當發兵追勦須於漢江具船隻云故臣卽令京畿監司成泳及倡義秋義等使達夜措置賊兵所渡浮橋則皆焚燬無一船隻督令京畿忠淸水使所騎戰船幷由龍山上送漢江而潮水甚淺恐不得曳上用是憂慮權慄高彥伯李時言鄭希玄則使之抄發精兵先渡追勦矣臣前日所遣司評李忠申俔馳報內與宣居怡合軍九百餘名欲爲邀截而賊兵挾道設伏多持火砲故未得下手云云使之相機進勦毋失機會事分付而惟是。天將一路護行處置極難尤爲悶痛
Of the matter of the Commander-in-Chief's entering the walls from Dongpa yesterday, urgent word has already been sent. Your servant followed after and entered within the walls toward dusk; the Wa had already all gone out, and the Ming commanders went after them as an escort, so that the several troops dared not pursue and strike. Go Eonbaek's (高彥伯) troops went in first by the East Great Gate and struck and cut off five heads of Wa who had fallen behind; Yi Sanhwi (李山輝) went in by the western road and cut off six; and Yi Bin (李薲) cut off one. But all of them, fearing the Ming commanders' order, hid them away in another place.
Your servants, together with Gwon Yul (權慄), Yi Jeonghyeong (李廷馨), and Seong Yeong (成泳) and the rest, went outside the Commander-in-Chief's gate and conveyed their thanks for the recovery of the capital; and the Commander-in-Chief answered, "The State Councillor was rebuking me, and now he gives thanks?" and went on, "Let us meet tomorrow." In general your servant had argued for many days until his mouth was worn out, to the end that the troops should advance, and the Ming commanders would not follow; and that is why his words were such.
As for the condition within the walls, the day being far gone your servant could not learn it in detail. Today he means to have the royal shrine and the altars of state, the palaces, and the royal tombs in the several places looked over by dividing the roads, and to send urgent word of it afterward. From the Mohwagwan onward white bones lie heaped, and within the walls the men and horses that have fallen dead are beyond all counting. The stench of rotting fills the roads so that a man cannot go near, and of the dwelling houses only about one in five is left; your servant cannot master his weeping.
The Ming commanders gave the order, "The enemy have gone without giving up the princes, and I shall duly send out troops and pursue and strike them. See that boats are provided on the Han River." Therefore your servant at once had Seong Yeong, inspector of Gyeonggi, and the righteous troops of the Changui and Chuui camps make them ready through the night. The boat bridge the enemy soldiers crossed by was all burnt and not one boat left, and so he pressed that the warships the naval commanders of Gyeonggi and Chungcheong rode in be sent up by way of Yongsan into the Han River as well. But the tide is very shallow and it is to be feared they cannot be drawn up, and this is a care. Gwon Yul, Go Eonbaek, Yi Sieon, and Jeong Huihyeon were to pick out swift troops and cross over first and pursue and strike.
Yi Chung (李忠) and Sin Hyeon (申俔), court assessors whom your servant sent the other day, have sent urgent word saying, "We joined troops with Seon Geoi (宣居怡), more than nine hundred men, and would have blocked and cut them off; but the enemy soldiers had laid ambushes along both sides of the road and had many fire-weapons, and so we could not set a hand to it." Your servant charged them to look to the condition and go forward and strike, and not lose the opportunity. Only, the Ming commanders go along the whole road as an escort, so that it is of the utmost difficulty to dispose of matters, and the oppression and pain are the greater.
Interlinear notes 1
四月二十一日
The twenty-first day of the fourth month