Requesting That Choe Bo-sin, Magistrate of Yanggeun, Be Kept and Not Called to Account請楊根郡守崔輔臣勿推仍任狀
臣巡到楊根邑中品官金應舜等五六十人呈狀于臣云本郡自經賊幾闔境空虛孑遺之民百不一存而爲嶺南往來之路使命絡繹刷馬供頓百獘旁午不能支當適郡守崔輔臣淸謹勤幹盡去獘瘼近日詔使之行一國騷擾而郡守處置得宜境內之民不至甚哲今聞以秘密狀。啓路中開拆之故被推恐至罷去不勝痛悶一境大小之民各出米豆合五十石已爲積置請以此爲軍糧而贖郡守推考之罪云云臣因以訪察民情則似皆出於至誠故臣喩以爾等民情當爲上。聞而納米之事近於無名但旣已聚合則還散亦難本郡束伍軍二百餘名軍器未備脫有緩急難以空手赴敵若以此糓爲匠人料食措備弓箭分給軍士使之佩持禦敵則此乃以一鄕公共之力爲一邑軍士之用有補於公家無害於事體庶爲便當云則郡民皆喜悅稱謝咸欲依此施行大抵楊根在京城上流上與婆娑相連下與龍津相接防守措置其事甚急崔輔臣以年少武臣到任之初頗得民情若又遞去則此處之事不成模樣不但民情缺然而已故不敢不達
On my circuit I came to Yanggeun, and some fifty or sixty of the district's ranked gentry (品官), Kim Eungsun (金應舜) and the rest, submitted a petition to me. In it they said: since this district went through the enemy, almost the whole of it has been emptied, and of the people barely one in a hundred is left; yet it lies on the road to and from Yeongnam, so that official missions follow one upon another, and with the requisitioning of horses and the provisioning of travelers (供頓) every kind of ill is busily knotted together beyond bearing. It happens that the Magistrate, Choe Bosin (崔輔臣), is clean and careful, diligent and able, and has done away with all these chronic ills. Of late the whole country was in an uproar over the progress of the envoys bearing the imperial rescript, yet the Magistrate made his dispositions fittingly and the people within the district were not sorely harried. Now we hear that, because a confidential report was opened on the road, he is under investigation (推考), and we fear it may come to his dismissal, and we cannot master our pain and distress. The people of the whole district, great and small, have each put out rice and beans and have already laid up fifty seok together; we beg that this be made army grain and that the Magistrate's offense under investigation be redeemed by it. So the petition ran.
By this I inquired into the people's mind and found that it all seemed to come of true sincerity. So I admonished them thus: your wish I shall duly report above, but the offering of rice comes near to being a thing without warrant. Still, since it is already gathered, it would be hard to scatter it back again. The two hundred and more Sogo militia (束伍軍) of this district have no arms of their own, and should anything urgent arise it would be hard for them to meet the enemy empty-handed. If with this grain the wages and food of craftsmen were provided and bows and arrows made and handed out to the soldiers, to be worn and carried in keeping the enemy off, then it would be one district's joint strength made into the use of one district's troops; it would profit the state and do no harm to the propriety of the matter (事體), and would be quite convenient and fitting. At this the people of the district were all glad and gave thanks, and all hoped that it would be done in this way.
In general Yanggeun lies upstream from the capital, running on to Pasa above and coming up against Yongjin below, so that holding its defenses and putting them in order is most urgent. Choe Bosin is a young military officer who has, at the very beginning of his term, won the people's hearts in good measure. If he too is replaced, the work here will not take shape, and it is not only that the people's hearts will be left wanting. I therefore cannot but dare to report this.
Interlinear notes 1
二月
The second month.