Urgent Report That the Enemy in Gyeongsang Is at a Crisis馳啓慶尙道賊勢危急狀

Your servant sealed and sent his letter the day before yesterday, and that day at the hour of the monkey left Gyeongju and travelled through the night, and reached Daegu yesterday. That morning he saw Regional Commander Liu (劉總兵) and set forth to the full the reasons for asking relief, the matter being urgent; and there was much in him of the intent that his elbow was held from above (掣肘) so that he could not act as he pleased. He thereupon made up a written report (稟帖) at once and sent urgent word to Military Commissioner Song (宋經略) and Commander-in-Chief Li (李提督); but looking at his intent there is no want of a design to sit and wait for a reply to come down, and your servant is pained and oppressed in the extreme lest the business should be too late.

The urgent word sent by Hwang Jin (黃進), army commander of Chungcheong, drawn up and dispatched on the sixteenth day, which has just arrived, says that the enemy staying at Changwon have united force with the enemy of Gimhae and Ungcheon and are about to turn toward Haman. Haman's walls and moat are shallow and thin, and the army grain the several commanders have barely holds out for a few days' use; and if the enemy take hold of the high hills outside the walls and draw out the days and stand against them, it will be of the utmost difficulty to hold. Therefore Gwon Yul (權慄), inspector of Jeolla Province, and Yi Bin (李薲), the frontier commander, and the rest took counsel together and had Seon Geoi (宣居怡), army commander of Jeolla, and the auxiliary commander Yi Gyejeong (李繼鄭), the Gyeonggi auxiliary commander Hong Gyenam (洪季男), the auxiliary commander of this province Jeong Myeongse (鄭名世), Choe Gyeonghoe (崔慶會), right army commander of Gyeongsang, and Go Jonghu (高從厚), commander of righteous troops, lead their troops and leave Haman on the fourteenth day of this month and come and camp at Jinju on the fifteenth.

Presently Kim Hanhui (金漢希), military officer to the magistrate of Buan who is rear guard commander of Jeolla Province, came riding and reported that the vanguard of the enemy who filled Changwon crossed Jungnyeong straight at dawn on the fifteenth day and had already entered Haman. Further, on the sixteenth day the Gyeonggi auxiliary commander Hong Gyenam came riding in person and said that at the hour of the hare on that same day the enemy who had entered Haman came out in numbers beyond knowing and gathered and camped at Banseong county in the land of Jinju, a place forty li from Jinju, so that it must be their design to fall upon Jinju. That the enemy of the several places unite force and come driving on is indeed as the man taken captive the other day said. Therefore the several commanders within the walls of Jinju are now holding it in order, and the army commander of Jeolla and the Gyeonggi auxiliary commander have led their troops toward Uiryeong at the frontier commander's written order. A dispatch has been submitted upon the matter of laying before the Ming commanders the reasons for the urgency of the enemy's condition here, that they may come in haste to the relief.

The urgent word sent by the frontier commander Yi Bin, drawn up and dispatched on the sixteenth day and arrived at the same time, says that on the fifteenth day the enemy at Haman divided their troops and went out in all four quarters and burnt the country above and below across the river. Therefore Go Eonbaek (高彥伯), left army commander of Gyeongsang, was sent first to unite troops with Gwak Jaeu (郭再祐), magistrate of Seongju, and block and cut them off. Your servant has just seen the urgent word sent by Gwak Jaeu, saying that more than a hundred of the enemy's boats came up from Jagwon and reached Cheokdangjin and put ashore, and that they burnt the house of An Gungno (安國老) some five li from the place where the magistrate was camped, and so the righteous troops and the left army commander's troops were sent to crush and strike them. Further, the urgent word sent by the left army commander Go Eonbaek says that at Ogolgwa in the land of Uiryeong more than fifty of the enemy's vanguard were setting fires, and so he is uniting troops with the magistrate of Seongju and pursuing and striking them.

The enemy's condition is very strong and they fill all four sides, while the several commanders have all gone to Jinju; and here there are only the frontier commander, the left army commander, and the magistrate of Seongju, and the troops they lead do not come to six hundred, so that with this there is no plan for blocking and holding. A dispatch has been submitted upon the matter of raising and sending the several commanders of the left circuit in haste, and asking the Ming troops as well to come and help in support.

Further, the urgent word drawn up and dispatched together on the eighteenth day by Bak Jin (朴晋), commissioner for catching the robbers, and the defence commanders Yi Sieon (李時言), Kim Eungseo (金應瑞), and Jeong Huirip (鄭希立) and the rest, which arrived at the same time, says that Bak Gyeongsin (朴慶新), magistrate of Miryang, who arrived that day, sent urgent word that enemy boats beyond number had come in and put to within the bounds of Yeongsan, and that more than a hundred of the enemy besides were going from Maepo toward Unghyeon on the border of his district, and so the magistrate led some twenty-odd soldiers and pursued them unlooked for and shot a great number dead. The remaining enemy of Yeongsan are turning back toward Maepo, and there is no want of care that they will come driving on by the straight road; and so word has come that the military officer Bak Suho (朴守豪) and the rest were to pick out and lead picked troops and unite force with the magistrate of Miryang and block the enemy at Maepo, while the several commanders are now picking out and leading their picked men and hurrying to Yeongsan, making it their plan to crush them as the chance comes.

Reckoning from this, your servant judges that the several commanders who withdrew from Haman and went into Jinju to hold it seem many in number and are amply able to block them. The care is that the army grain is spent; and if it be long drawn out, the state of things can hardly hold. The troops sent to Uiryeong are indeed few in number, and to send more troops to their relief is truly the right plan; yet the blocking and cutting off of the right circuit and of the straight road cannot be left empty either. As it happened Choe Won (崔遠) led troops and reached Seongju, and so he was had to lead on the warriors under him and hurry with all speed and make an agreement with the governor of the right circuit and give aid. The provisions in the charge of Jo Sindo (趙信道), the transport officer, have already all been carried and there is nothing more for him to do; and since he was born and bred at Haman and is said to know well the lie of Jinju and such places, he was made overseer of the fighting apart and sent to Choe Won to dispose of matters with all his strength.

In general the enemy's condition is strong in the extreme and they drive upon place after place, and there is a condition in which they will presently be beyond gathering in; while our troops are alone and our provisions spent, and looking round upon this province there is already nothing that can be done. We trust only in the Ming commanders' coming to the relief, and yet there is again the thread of their being held from above and blocked from one another, which is the more painful and oppressive. Your servant will take letters telling of the urgency and lay them before Regional Commander Liu one after another, so as nearly to move his heart; and he will strictly charge the commanders of the several places again and look to gather things in order. Taking first the reports that have already come to hand, he sends urgent word of it thus, in haste.