Letter to the Gyeonggi Inspector移京畿巡察使文
今日之勢可謂急矣軍務措置之事不爲則已爲則當量日計功以夜繼之猶懼不及若或怠緩寬縱視同平日使一日之事延至一月一月之事延至一年則光陰有限事機交迫必有後時不及之悔思之至此極爲寒心况冬月已盡春耕將迫農事若始則雖欲勸民訓鍊其可及乎顚管之法。朝廷申明知委今已數年而未聞一處奉行近日知委鍊兵事目至爲簡易欲使邑求其面面求其里里求其村村求其人分其村落多少裁定闊狹擇出哨官哨官旣出而隨便抄出見在丁壯之軍使之各在其處設場鍊習無往來道路之弊無坐食糧餉之費民情必所便宜數日之間可以成籍上使而署不聽從以軍務重事視同兒戱除竹山安城陰竹陽城振威陽智龍仁廣州利川楊根砥平水原外其餘哨官尙無黑白南陽則以不辦菽麥之人定爲哨官又不成公事起送問抄兵等事則惘然莫對良可痛心當此國勢危急之時鍊兵禦敵爲第一急務。九重之憂切於宵旰而守令以分憂共理之人不爲動心唱而不和泄泄如此何事可爲思之傷痛其中尤甚怠慢者所當摘發一二。啓聞治罪本道各別星火知委限今月二十日哨官無遺成册上使
Today's posture may well be called pressing. As for disposing of military affairs, if it is not to be done there is an end of it; but if it is to be done, then the days should be reckoned and the work counted, and even though it be carried on through the night it is to be feared that we shall still not come up in time. If we are slack and loose and leave things easy and look upon it as on an ordinary day, dragging a day's business out to a month and a month's business out to a year, then, the seasons being limited and the turns of business coming one upon another, there will surely be the regret of having let the time slip and not come up. When my thought reaches this, it is utterly pitiable. How much more when the winter months are already spent and the spring ploughing is at hand; for once the farming begins, though one would urge the people to train, can it be come up with?
It is now some years since the court set the law of the garrison commands forth again and made it known, and I have not heard of one place that has upheld and carried it out. The articles for drilling troops made known of late are utterly plain and easy: they are meant to have the county seek it of its wards, the ward of its villages, the village of its hamlets, and the hamlet of its men, and so, dividing by the many or few of the hamlets and cutting it to their width and narrowness, to have company officers chosen and put forward. Once the company officers are forth, the able-bodied soldiers now on hand are to be picked out as is convenient, and each, staying in his own place, is to have a field set up and drill there; so there is no evil of going to and fro on the roads and no cost of sitting and eating army provisions, and it must be what the people's hearts find easy. The registers could be made and sent up within a few days, and yet the magistrates do not follow it, but look upon the weighty business of military affairs as upon children's play.
Beyond Juksan, Anseong, Eumjuk, Yangseong, Jinwi, Yangji, Yongin, Gwangju, Icheon, Yanggeun, Jipyeong and Suwon, the rest have not so much as black and white of their company officers; and Namyang appointed as company officer a man who cannot tell beans from barley and has moreover brought nothing to pass, so that when he was summoned and sent for and questioned about the picking of soldiers and the like he stood blank and could not answer. It is truly painful to the heart.
At a time when the posture of this country is perilous and pressing, to drill troops and hold off the enemy is the first of pressing businesses. The sovereign's care is earnest night and day, and yet the magistrates, who are the men that share his care and govern with him, are unmoved in heart: called, they do not answer, and are listless as this. What business can be done? To think of it wounds and pains the heart. Among them, those who are slack beyond measure should be brought forward, one or two of them, and reported to the sovereign and their guilt dealt with. Let this province make it known particularly, with the haste of a falling star, and have the company officers made into registers without omission and sent up by the twentieth day of this month.