Requesting to Be Stripped of Office over Superintendent Yang's Words以楊經理言請鐫黜職名狀
今日早牌臣詣經理衙門通名李德馨先入論說何事通事宋業男在遠處聽得經理言柳某得罪於邢軍門聞軍門之來逃避來此運糧等事專委尹承勳爲之業男卽以此言傳之於臣而臣未敢信聽旣而德馨退臣問於德馨德馨云無有是語臣亦意業男或誤聽卽進行禮而退午後有白都司潢伺候通專白應俊來言持平南以恭言於白都司云此處管糧官多且有議政檢勅俺別無所事何以爲之都司言老爺言柳某得罪軍門逃來必且隨我前去糧運催督不可爲云汝須仍在此催發軍糧不可還去臣始知朝來宋業男所傳者非是誤傳也臣釁孽旣重人鬼交惡千萬意外得此不測之言近日之事怳惚如夢莫測頭緒今番出來已知因此添成一段禍端必且上累。國家下速臣罪曾將此意暫達於。天聽只緣迹嫌避事不敢堅辭跼蹐承。命而來晝夜憂痛如坐針氈今果如此臣行止狼狽不知所出臣之一死有似螻蟻但不死於國事而死於惡名目所不瞑且臣名在大臣之列受此名以死則國事亦將如何經理今日前去慶州臣不敢隨去以益其疑當在中路以竢。朝廷之命而亦難於自由伏乞。朝廷亟賜處置以不職無狀之罪鐫黜臣職使臣明白歸死於。輦下以昭雪誣枉實天地父母生成之思而國家之幸
At an early hour today your servant went to the Superintendent's office and sent in his name; Yi Deokhyeong (李德馨) had gone in before and was discussing some matter. Song Eopnam (宋業男) the interpreter, standing at a distance, heard the Superintendent say, "Yu So-and-so has incurred guilt with Army Commissioner Xing. Hearing that the Commissioner was coming, he fled and came here; therefore let the carrying of the army grain be entrusted wholly to Yun Seunghun." Eopnam at once passed these words to your servant, but your servant did not dare believe what he heard. Presently, as Deokhyeong withdrew, your servant asked him, and Deokhyeong said, "There were no such words." Your servant too supposed that Eopnam might have heard wrongly, and went forward at once, performed the rites, and withdrew.
After noon Baek Eungjun (白應俊), the interpreter attending Commandant Bai Huang (白潢), came and said that Nam Igong (南以恭) the Censor had said to Commandant Bai, "Here there are many officials in charge of the army grain, and the Chief Minister inspects it besides, so that I have no separate work to do. What am I to do?" and that the Commandant had said, "His Honor said, 'Yu So-and-so incurred guilt with the Commissioner and fled here, and he is sure to want to follow me and go on ahead again, so the pressing of the grain cannot be entrusted to him.' You must stay here just as you are and press the grain forward, and not go back." Only then did your servant know that what Song Eopnam passed on in the morning had not been passed on wrongly.
Your servant's faults and calamities are heavy already, and men and spirits alike hate him; and now, utterly beyond all expectation, to get these unfathomable words—the business of these days is as far off as a dream, and I can make nothing of it. When I came out this time I already knew that by this a further thread of disaster would be made, which must bring blame upon the state above and hasten your servant's guilt below. I would have laid this mind briefly before Your Majesty earlier, but, fearing only that my course would look suspect and be called shirking the work, I did not dare firmly decline, and shrank into myself and came out under command; so that night and day I was anxious and in pain as though seated on a bed of needles. And now it has indeed come to this.
Your servant's going forward and drawing back are in ruin, and he does not know what to do. Your servant's one death is no different from an ant's or a mole cricket's; only, not to die in the service of the state but to die under an evil name is a thing with which the eyes cannot be closed. And if your servant's name stands in the ranks of the great ministers and he takes such a name and dies, what will become of the business of the state? The Superintendent goes to Gyeongju today, but your servant dare not follow and add to his suspicion; he means rather to stay midway and await the court's command, yet even that is hard to do of his own will. I bow and beg: let the court hand down its disposition quickly; for the guilt of not fulfilling his charge and for this groundless guilt, strip your servant of his office and cast him out, and let your servant return plainly beneath the palace to die there, and wash clear this slander and this wrong. This would truly be the grace of heaven and earth and of a parent who bears and rears, and the good fortune of the state.
Interlinear notes 1
丁酉冬
The winter of the jeongyu year (1597).
初經理楊鎬始至語。御前通事沈友勝曰汝國事當使如柳某者輔之後請。上同出銅雀江上問柳某安在當使在側急召公近前旣而有人構公於經理曰柳某謂公不可成事短之不已經理信其說丁酉秋公出巡京畿人又言於麻提督曰柳某率家屬避賊出城提督信之傳通於邢軍門至載。奏文中飛語又入。內熒惑萬端至是經理與接件使私語如右而李以爲不聞公進退狼狽遂上狀言狀
At the first, when the Superintendent Yang Hao (楊鎬) had just arrived, he said to Sim Useung (沈友勝), the royal interpreter, "The business of your country ought to be helped along by a man such as Yu So-and-so." Afterward he asked the King to go out with him to the bank of the Dongjak River, and there he said, "Where is Yu So-and-so? Let him be at my side," and hurriedly called the Master to come forward.
Before long someone wove a tale against the Master to the Superintendent, saying, "Yu So-and-so says that your lordship is a man who will accomplish nothing," and did not cease from slandering him; and the Superintendent believed what was said. In the autumn of the jeongyu year, when the Master went out on circuit to Gyeonggi, men said again to Commander-in-Chief Ma, "Yu So-and-so has taken his household and left the walls to flee the enemy"; and the Commander-in-Chief believed it and passed it on to Army Commissioner Xing, and it came even to be entered in a memorial to the throne. The floating talk also got inside the court and bewildered men in every way. Coming to this point, the Superintendent spoke privately with the officer attending him as above, and Yi Deokhyeong said he had not heard it; and so the Master, ruined in his going forward and drawing back, at last sent up a report setting forth how matters stood.