Requesting That Yanggeun Fortress Be Readied besides the Repairs at Pasa請修設婆娑城外更爲措置楊根山城狀

I have now seen the official dispatch sent by the Border Defense Council (備邊司), and it ran thus and thus. Now, though Pasa Fortress (婆娑城) stands upon the upper river, how should one fortress block all the barrier posts (關防) and ferries and byways that run every which way in place after place?

In the troubles of the Imjin year, when the enemy had taken Chungju and divided their troops to come up northward, one band passed Yeoju and crossed before Cheongsimnu Pavilion. At that time Won Ho (元豪) led several hundred soldiers and held the north bank, and for some days the enemy troops could not cross straight over. Pasa Fortress lies between Yeoju and Icheon, and their ground runs together, so that the places which can be kept in hand are only these few districts. Speaking of the wider lay of the land: Chungju must be firmly held, and heavy forces must be camped at Wonju besides, so that they stand to the ground of the two passes, Joryeong and Jungnyeong, as the side-bar of a cart stands to its wheel; only then will the position of Pasa be firm at last.

Below Pasa there is another strategic place (要害) that must be held. Namsan at Yanggeun comes right up against Satan (沙灘), and past this point the Miwon road and the Gapyeong road and the Wolgye road all branch off from here. If the enemy should pass Wonju and come by the back of Pasa straight toward Yanggeun, this place alone is fit to block them and hold them down.

Climbing this hill on my present journey and examining the ground, I found that the hill bears not only upon the guarding of the ford: above it faces Pasa and below it looks across to Buyong, and it stands just where the several roads along the river come together, so that it is truly a place of commanding ground (形勝). I have therefore charged Choe Bosin (崔輔臣), Magistrate of Yanggeun, to see to stockades and ramparts by degrees and make of it a plan for camping and holding.

Some ten li from here there is also Hamgong Mountain Fortress (咸公山城) upon Mount Yongmun, sheer and sharp on all four sides and likewise a stronghold made by heaven, fit to serve the old and the young of a whole district as a refuge from the troubles and a place to hide their grain; so I have given orders that it be put in order as well.

In general every kind of corvée presses upon the people left in the capital region, and their hurt and worn condition cannot be borne to look upon. Holding the defenses and keeping the enemy off, though it comes of setting the people to work in the way of saving them, is a great labor with a weak and scanty people, like ants gathering at a heap of earth; so it is hard to hope that it will be finished in a few months, and I am sorely pained and at a loss.

As for the putting of Chungju and Wonju in order and such matters, let the officials charged with affairs in each of those provinces be enjoined again and again to carry them out, so that there be no fear of their coming too late for the need.