Letter to the Pyeongan Army Commander移平安道節度使文

All the matters of this province that are to be disposed of lie wholly within the Governor's and the Army Commander's disposing, so there is no need to speak of them at length; and when the censor went down, the general outline of the defenses was already set forth in full and sent with him. The stretch along the river is the thing most to be feared — the native troops (土兵) are few in number, the army provisions are not sufficient, the weapons are not furnished, and the walls and moats are low and shallow. Dispose of it with haste and let no opening be lost.

In the holding of walls the one business of the gun-tower (炮樓) is of weight, and so the Deputy Director of the Armory (軍器寺僉正) Yi Won (李源) has already been sent down leading artisans who know the business of cannon. In so sudden a season it is hard to dress stone and make a tower; but if timber be felled and the shape made and shield-boards set up firm with holes bored in the midst of them, a gun can just be fired and the enemy can be held off as well. Charge them with this again and carry it out with haste. When the Minister of the Right was in this province in days past, several gun-towers were set up in the one city of Pyeongyang as well, yet the tower the deputy magistrate was making is unfinished to this day. This is the place of weight that is the root of the whole province; so if this tower be finished and a plenty of the Cheonja, Jija, Hyeonja and Hwangja guns (天字·地字·玄字·黃字銃筒) and the Furangji cannon (佛狼機) be furnished and set each within it, and the firing of them practiced beforehand, then one labor will bring long ease and it must be a profit for ten thousand ages. Now, though the days are cold and the ice is formed and the labor is hard to begin, let the timber be furnished beforehand and, next spring being awaited, let them be pressed to finish the making.

The army provisions of the several counties and the several garrisons within the province are cut off and short: of grain now on hand at the garrison forts along the river there are only some tens of seok of field rice (田米), and where it is least, five or six seok. If the army provisions do not suffice, with what shall so great a soldiery hold the more? This is no small worry. The court, fearing it ten parts, has already made known such matters as sending down silver to buy grain and exchanging the land tax (田稅) for rice. Only, now that the river waters are frozen it is hard to buy grain at Uiju and haul it; and what has been exchanged for rice under the land tax is all grain of the interior scattered here and there, so that to gather it at one time after the trouble breaks out and feed the troops with it is likewise hard to count upon. All of it is to be feared. Yet matters of a far place are hard to reckon from afar and I cannot give directions point by point; so reckon such things ten parts over and put them in practice in good time, that there be no evil of letting the season slip.

In general, where there is not the store of three years, the men of old said that the state is not its own state. Even granting that there be no business this year, at this time when the fighting is not yet done we cannot but divide and settle ten parts over the plans for getting grain within the province, and make them our plan for keeping the army provisions unbroken. Only, for keeping the army provisions unbroken there is no other good plan than this alone: to open the garrison farms (屯田) wide. Within the province the lands that lie rich and broad and empty — the Samcheon plain of Anju, the reed fields in the bounds of Jeongju and Bakcheon, and other places fit for ploughing — are not one or two; and if they be ploughed and broken up next year, grain can be got. Only, there is no place whence farming hands may come, and the food and seed for the farming too are hard to furnish; so it seems an article hard to carry out. Last year, when Regional Commander Liu went down, he left behind at Uiju the five hundred and more camp followers he had led, and at that time the court sent a letter apart and had them divided among the several counties and relieved so that they might live; how many are left now I do not know. If this company be gathered in, they can all be made farming hands; and the naval troops who serve their turn at Nogang and Seonsapo can plough and sow besides. As for oxen for the farming, how many of the government's oxen gathered within the province are now on hand — reckon such matters under each of these heads closely, and report and put them in practice.

The one business of drilling troops lies wholly in putting in order and setting forth the law of the garrison commands; it is upon this that the great military administration hangs. Once the law of the garrison commands is clear, it can be known how many soldiers in all there are in one garrison command; and once the number of the soldiers has been counted, army provisions should likewise be furnished for each according to that number. For instance, if a county have a hundred drilled soldiers, then that county should be made to furnish beforehand the food of a hundred men for so many months; and joining the troops of one garrison command, let it be counted in full how much army provision each of the counties belonging to that garrison command has laid up, and let each furnish it according to its strength. Then the business will have a thread to it, and the army provisions too will be easy to furnish. This is a very convenient and easy plan, and a rule that sees far and is fit to be followed. Since a document cannot say all that is meant, the military officer Choe Eungtaek (崔應澤) has been given full directions and sent; reckon ten parts over whether it is convenient or not, and report and put it in practice.

Of the drilled soldiers of the six garrison commands, make a register on the one hand of how many gunners and how many swordsmen there are, and who the company officers and the banner chiefs and squad chiefs are, and send it up with the haste of a falling star, to be the ground of reference hereafter. Only, the drilled soldiers who are gunners and swordsmen are made into squads mixed together without regard to whether they are regular soldiers or slaves of the state and of private houses (公私賤); and if a regular soldier within a squad takes his turn and serves it along the river, the ranks are not filled, and he is encroached upon by two services, so that the people's feeling may well resent and find it hard. Look into how this article is to be disposed of as well, and report.

Of the arms now on hand within the province, look into and set down in a report how many matchlocks besides bows and arrows, how many Seungja guns (勝字銃筒), and how many cannon great and small of every kind there are, and in what places they are kept. Gunpowder is the weightiest thing: look into how many geun of it are now on hand within the province, and whether the Chinese saltpeter that was divided in days past among the three places of Uiju, Pyeongyang and Yeongbyeon has been boiled down again or not; and if it has not been boiled down again, set a day and have it boiled and compounded according to the method. Where gunpowder is short at places along the river where the defense is vital, send more with the haste of a falling star. To the cannon artisans whom Yi Won leads, let clever men of the riverside be picked out and the method of making cannon handed down and practiced, in readiness for use hereafter. Because Choe Eungtaek knows the business within the province closely, a letter has been furnished him and he is sent down; report on every matter beforehand.