Gyeongju and Ulsan Troops Take Enemy Heads after the Ming Withdrawal天兵退後慶州蔚山軍人擊斬賊首狀

In what Bak Uijang (朴毅長), Prefect of Gyeongju, hurried to report, it was said: "After the Ming troops drew back and fled, more than two hundred of the Japanese enemy, some mounted and some afoot, were gathering up the clothes and armor the Ming troops had thrown away on the road; and so Sapae and the others went forward suddenly and pursued and struck them and took seventeen heads."

Again, going upon what that district hurried to report: "On the fifteenth of this month more than three hundred of the Japanese enemy came out, half of them mounted and half afoot; and our troops went in suddenly all at once and hit many of them with arrows and took three heads and captured one Japanese alive." Again, going upon what that district hurried to report: "On the fifteenth more than four hundred Japanese came out and went about as they pleased, and so Sapae and the others went in suddenly and closed with them and took twenty-one heads." Again, going upon the report of Kim Daeheo (金大虛), Magistrate of Ulsan: "When the enemy encamped in this district came out, the officer Bak Eungtak (朴應琢) and the others fought at Yusajeong and took thirteen heads."

Looking at those among the province's soldiers who are fit for the field of battle, your servant finds the troops of Ulsan and Gyeongju first and those of Yeongcheon (永川) next. It is not that these were nimble and hardy from the first and unlike the men of other districts. It is only that, living near the enemy's camp and meeting their blade day by day, their hearts and their courage have already hardened; and therefore they can meet many with few and do not draw back and flee. This is why the men of old held that in soldiers those rooted in the soil are to be prized; and the saying that "to levy ten thousand men is not worth the getting of a hundred men called up" is truly no empty word.

Only, our troops have had no teaching and nurture in ordinary times; the soldiers are always made to pack their own rations and to furnish their own arms besides, and these are all blunt and not fit for use. For this reason even nimble soldiers who fight hard are hungry and worn and have nothing to lean on, and cannot put out their skill and their strength. Further, the judging of military merit and the giving of rewards do not come in time; and for this reason the hearts of the soldiers sometimes grow slack and are not roused, which is utterly to be regretted.

While your servant was at Gyeongju he had the army grain left over from the Ming army's use, which is at Gyeongju, given out as rations reckoned by the number of days. Now of the Gyeongju troops those who have come back and gathered are seven hundred and more, and of the Ulsan troops a hundred and more, and all are men who will brave death and can meet ten apiece. If from this time on their grain be made ready and they be helped with clothes and armor, bows and arrows, and be separately soothed and nurtured so that their hearts are heartened, then the border troops gathering gradually would seem not to stop at this number, and the gain to the plans for fighting and holding hereafter will surely be great.

The military merits of this campaign are in the separate reports of the Supreme Commander and the others, so the names of those soldiers are not raised here as well; your servant reports only how the troops of the two districts fought hard and look for reward. Let the Border Defense Council examine the grades of military merit in the reports earlier and later and carry out the rewards with urgency, so that, answering the sense that reward does not overrun its season, the hearts of the soldiers may be heartened.