Urgent Report on the Rumors in Regional Commander Wu's Camp馳。啓吳總兵軍中流言事狀
自吳總兵來駐安東後軍中盛言此處人民有投入倭奴之意或言府使鄭賜湖有女子二人爲倭所擄故府使與倭相通而輸送糧餉一人倡之百人和之洶洶不已適本府居民自前多數剃髮賣爲女髢如此者十居八九故唐人動輒脫笠查驗以爲投入賊中而來作奸細雖收繫還釋闔境之人疑懼日增赴役者亦不肯入於官府且軍門差官白潢恐被搶掠呵噤安東之糓勿令輸入於慶州大丘等處而各營句管之人恐未及期會逐日移文催督甚急守令不得已潜輸外縣倉糓使之從間路輸去唐兵處處譏察以爲輸送於賊中見輒毆打中路勒駐胥動浮言無所不至又於昨日陳遊擊軍人於十里外捉得安東人剃髮者以爲倭諜嚴囚獄中且陳遊擊軍三人托以樵採出送於三息程外昨昨日走回來告倭奴三名本國人二名皆着本國衣服不意收縛將爲過夜偶然一人得脫解縛逃來云云百爾思之似不近情而疑訝之際又添一倍非但公然倡說察其氣色景像不佳雖厮養下卒若逢我國官人必聚首指示臣之出入時所見如此大小將官若以此移咨則車門亦或以先入爲主不無轉達。天朝之患大槪如此無形之事雖曰保無他虞自古天下之事未甞不因其疑阻遂成難追之悔自。朝廷商量處置俾無意外之患
Since Regional Commander Wu came and halted at Andong, the talk in the camp that "the people here have a mind to go over to the Japanese" has grown strong, and some say, "Prefect Jeong Saho (鄭賜湖) had two daughters taken captive by the Japanese, and therefore the Prefect is in communication with the Japanese and sends them army grain." One man calls and a hundred answer, and the uproar does not stop.
It happens that the people of this district have long been shaving their heads in great numbers to sell the hair for false hair, and eight or nine in ten are such. Hence the Ming men at every turn pull off their hats to examine them and say, "These went over to the enemy and came back, and play the enemy's spies"; and though they seize and shut them up and then let them go again, the suspicion and fear of the people of the whole district grows by the day, so that even those going out to corvée will not call at the government office.
Further, Bai Huang (白潢), the officer sent from the Army Command, fearing that it would be plundered, rebuked and forbade the carrying of Andong's grain into Gyeongju, Daegu and those parts. Yet the men in charge at each camp, fearing they will not meet the term, send letters daily pressing most urgently; and so the magistrate, unable to do otherwise, has had the grain of the outlying district granaries carried off secretly and taken by side roads. The Ming troops watch for it everywhere and say, "They are carrying it off to the enemy," and beat whomever they see and hold them by force on the road; and so they raise floating rumors against one another, and there is nowhere these do not reach.
Again, yesterday the soldiers of Assault Commander Chen seized a shaven-headed Andong man ten li out and shut him up strictly in prison as a Japanese spy. Also, three of Assault Commander Chen's soldiers went out thirty li on the pretext of gathering firewood, and the day before yesterday fled back and reported, saying: "Three Japanese and two men of this country, all in the dress of this country, seized us unawares and bound us and were going to keep us through the night; and by chance one of us loosed his bonds and got free and fled back." Think of it a hundred ways and it does not seem near the truth, yet in this season of suspicion and strangeness it has added yet another measure.
Not only do they make up talk openly; looking to their air and their signs, these are not good. Even a servant or a common soldier, meeting an official of this country, will surely put his head together with another and point; such is what your servant has seen in going in and out. If the commanders and officers, great and small, send up dispatches on this, there is no little fear that the Army Command too may take what it heard first as its ground and pass it on to the Ming court.
In general, of such shapeless matters it may be warranted that there is no other harm in them; yet from of old there has never been a case in the affairs of the world where suspicion and obstruction did not in the end make a regret that cannot be overtaken. Let the court weigh and dispose of this, that there be no harm from an unlooked-for quarter.