Letter to the Governors of Gyeonggi and Hwanghae移京畿黃海觀察使文
兵興四載各道各官倉糓一樣蕩竭前頭若又有調發戰需之事則糧餉出處百無可辦糧餉不足則雖有千兵萬馬高城深池將無所用今日措置糧餉一事最爲急先之務不可少忽糧餉措置之路亦無他䇿不過曰田稅也貢物作米也屯田所出也奴婢身貢作米也皀隷番價米也軍士自願納米除防也煮鹽貿糓也此外各宮糶糴雖係本官倉糓而亦不可不知其數京幾則今年田稅除作租收以米豆以爲軍糧但各官無城子處倉庫虛疎散儲零瑣之米臨時聚用爲難亦非經遠之慮姑以大槪事勢言之則廣州鎭管所屬之糓則藏置於南漢山城水原鎭管所屬之糓則藏置於水原本倉或秃城山城楊州則藏於豐壤山城長湍則藏於長湍本官其布置大略似當如此亦不可一槪爲之但當隨其便宜及民情所願且觀山城倉庫堅實與否而爲之區處在於本道隨便處置其他貢物作米等項一樣處之而各色之糓不可混置於一庫之中使難查考皆當貯於別庫門外書標籖附某色糓幾石入庫則當不時別遣從事官擲扞斗量以驗虛實且屯田所出之糓亦須知數牒報以備繼用之資皀隸價米趁此秋糓未盡之時依數收捧軍士自願納糧代妨者京畿則似無此例如有自願者則收捧無妨各項之糓雖零瑣湊合而所得終是不敷不足以當大軍調發之需甚爲可慮自古兵興之際必以鹽鐵之利以裕軍國之需本國四面皆海鹽之出於海水者其利無竆只緣無主管善處之人一無措辦之事今以京畿一道之勢言之則漢江之水達于忠州之境臨津之水達于伊川安峽朔寧兎山之境山谷之民常時貴鹽如金若於海邊措置鹽利且備船隻由兩江散貿忠淸江原京畿黃海之民則公私兩濟一年所得之糓不可勝記軍國經費所出皆當倚此此乃救時經遠之計非尋常小小規模亦在於本道處置之中從長善處後擧行緣由爲先牒報
Four years have passed since the troops rose, and the granary grain of every county in every province is alike exhausted; so that if hereafter there be again occasion to raise troops and use them in battle, of the places whence army provisions should come there is not one in a hundred that has anything laid by. If army provisions are not sufficient, then though there be a thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses, high walls and deep moats, there will be no use to put them to. This one business of providing army provisions is today the most pressing and the first to be done, and may not be slighted in the least.
For the ways of providing army provisions there is likewise no other plan: they go no further than the land tax (田稅); the exchanging of tribute goods for rice; what comes of the garrison farms (屯田); the exchanging of the slaves' service dues (身貢) for rice; the rice the yamen runners (皀隷) pay in place of their turn of service; the rice that soldiers of their own wish offer up to be excused the frontier watch; and the boiling of salt to be exchanged for grain. Besides these, the grain that the several palaces lend out and gather in, though it is reckoned to the granary grain of the county itself, must also not go unnumbered.
In Gyeonggi this year let the taking of the land tax in unhulled rice be remitted, and let it be gathered in rice and beans to serve as army provisions. Only, in those counties that have no walls the granaries are flimsy, and rice piled up scattered in small lots is hard to gather and use when the time comes upon us; nor is that a far-seeing care. To speak for now of the general shape of it: the grain belonging to the Gwangju garrison command should be kept at Namhansanseong; the grain belonging to the Suwon garrison command at the main granary of Suwon or at Dokseongsanseong; Yangju's at Pungyangsanseong; and Jangdan's in Jangdan county itself — the rough outline of how they are to be set out should, it seems, be like this. Nor can it be made uniform throughout: it must be done by following what is convenient and what the people's feeling would have, and by looking to whether the mountain-fortress granaries are sound or not; the dividing and disposing of it rests with what this province finds convenient.
The other heads as well — the exchanging of tribute goods for rice and the rest — are to be disposed of in the same way; but the several kinds of grain must not be mixed within one granary so as to be hard to examine. Let them all be piled in separate granaries, and let a marker be written and posted outside the door setting down what grain and how many seok have gone into that granary. Then from time to time an aide shall be sent apart to measure and reckon them by the mal and test whether it is full or empty. The grain that comes of the garrison farms, too, must be numbered and reported, to furnish a stock for continued use. As for the runners' rice in place of their turn, gather it to the full number while this autumn's grain is not yet spent. As for soldiers offering army provisions of their own wish in place of the frontier watch, there seems to be no such precedent in Gyeonggi; but if there be any who wish it of themselves, there is no harm in gathering it.
Though the grain under each head be gathered from small lots, what is got will in the end not be sufficient and will fall short of use when a great host is raised; which is much to be feared. From of old, when troops rose, the profit of salt and iron was always used to make the expenses of the state and the army sufficient. Our country is bounded on all four sides by the sea, and the profit of the salt that comes of sea water is without end; yet only because there has been no man to take charge and manage it well, not one thing has been laid by.
To speak now of the shape of the one province of Gyeonggi: the waters of the Han reach the bounds of Chungju, and the waters of the Imjin reach the bounds of Icheon, Anhyeop, Sangnyeong, and Tosan; and the people of the mountain valleys hold salt as dear as gold even in ordinary times. If the profit of salt were laid by along the sea, and ships furnished besides, and it were spread and sold along the two rivers to the people of Chungcheong, Gangwon, Gyeonggi, and Hwanghae, then public and private alike would be saved, and the grain got in a year could not be set down in full. The places whence the expenses of the state and the army are to come should all depend upon this; and this is a plan that meets the time and sees far, no common petty scheme. It too lies within this province's disposing: manage it well as seems good, and report first the grounds on which you will carry it out.