Letter Charging the Magistrates, Generals, and Officers約束守令將官文

The men of old said that though all under heaven be at peace, to forget war is surely to be in peril; how much more in our own day. That the drilling of troops is a pressing business even the passer-by on the road all know cannot be left undone; how much more the servants who hold the land and the officials who bear the charges. Yet men's hearts have heaped up their sloth into a habit, and those with a will to it are few and those without a will are many, so that now and again they look upon this weighty business as a thing to be dressed up on paper and so got clear of. Called, they do not answer, and they seem to have no will to be moved and rouse themselves; and I sigh over it with pain continually. Therefore I cannot but make it known again: let each wash his heart and think on it with fear, and give his whole will to following and carrying it out.

These rules for drilling troops are not meant to harry the people but only to put them at ease. They are only meant to have the neighboring villages keep one another whole in ordinary times and hold off the robbers at home, and, when there is business, to make their hearts one and their strength one and so guard against the state's need. Yet neither must they be scattered and without a leading; and so a company officer is set to lead the banner chiefs, the banner chief to lead the squad leaders, and the squad leader to lead the soldiers, that they may hold one another up and teach one another and take one another in, and that there be no more of the old trouble of gathering like a flock of crows and crumbling like earth.

The great essential lies in the magistrate's choosing the company officers with care, the company officer's choosing the banner chiefs with care, and the banner chief's choosing the squad leaders with care. The soldiers too must be bound into squads from men who live near one another in the neighboring villages, according to the number of them there may be at the time. This is only that there be no evil of going to and fro to distant places to summon and gather them. In general, once they live in one village their faces are familiar to one another and their minds friendly to one another, so that they may succor one another in calamity and help one another in holding and watching. The effect of it is of itself not the same as when men living in different lands, who have not known one another's faces their whole lives, are gathered at one time and called a rank.

The company officer's charge is of the utmost weight, and even the charge of the banner chiefs and squad chiefs is not light; so if they are truly not the right men, not only will there be no profit at all, there will surely be hardship to the people. From this time forth let the magistrate give his orders three times and repeat them five, and charge the company officers; and let the company officer charge the banner chiefs and squad chiefs, that each give his whole heart to the charge laid on him. They must love and look after the soldiers they lead as men of one household and let them not be encroached upon by so much as a hair's tip; and the soldiers too must look upon the company officer as upon the elder of one household, and when there is teaching or an order given, follow and carry it out point by point and not dare to go against it.

This headquarters will from time to time send the Defense Commander to go round and see whether each county and each company is able or not, and to compare the greater or lesser number of their soldiers' accomplished skills. The business of a county will be laid to the magistrate's account and the business of a company to the company officer's; those who are able will be reported to the sovereign and rewards deliberated, and those who are not able will be graded and punishment laid upon them, and by no means will it be lightly forgiven. The matters that should now be carried out are set out below.

Item. The troops of the several counties within Gyeonggi have already been divided into the van, the rear, the left and the right of Gyeonggi and made four camps. One camp leads five battalions and one battalion leads five companies; and within one battalion as well they are divided by east, west, south, north and center to make five companies, named the left company, the right company, the van company, the rear company and the center company.

What must be striven for lies in reckoning the nearness and farness of the roads, whether the people dwell thin or thick, and whether the coming and going is convenient, and so making it all even and orderly,

like net-cord and mesh bound to one another and not thrown into confusion. This is the great stem of military administration, and in the doing of it there is nothing hard either; so look into it yet more closely and faithfully

put it in practice.

Item. Today, in the aftermath of the upheaval, the places where the people of each hamlet live are sparse and far apart — in some parts one house in several ri, in some parts one hamlet in ten ri. These are bound and gathered to make one company; so if, in drilling the troops, they were made to come and gather at one place day after day, there would surely be the vexatious and clamorous evil of going to and fro, and it is feared that to the people's

hearts too it would not be easy. In ordinary times let the squad chiefs and banner chiefs make it known and have them practice archery, or the use of the spear and swift

running and the like, each in the place where he lives; and let the company officer go round within the three banners he leads and test their skills, somewhat more often in the season free of farming and somewhat more seldom in the farming season. When it is done often,

within the first five days he tests the soldiers of one company and sets down the number of their hits; in the next five days he tests the soldiers of two banners and sets down the number of their hits as above;

and in the five days after that he tests the soldiers of all three banners. Testing once every fifteen days is testing twice in a month. When it is done seldom, in the first third of each month

he tests the soldiers of one banner, in the middle third he tests two banners, and in the last third he tests three banners, which is testing once in a month. In the fifth and sixth months, when the farming is at its height, it is stopped, so that

their strength may be given wholly to the farm work. The magistrate too, once in a month or once in two months, joins the soldiers of the several companies within his bounds and tests them, and reports the greater or lesser number of the

skills they have accomplished to the headquarters, and reward and punishment are carried out.

Item. Of late the troops of the other provinces are divided and attached in many places: there are the Patrol Commissioner's troops, the Army Commander's and the Naval Commander's troops, the Defense Commander's troops, the Frontier Commissioner's (巡邊使) troops, the Assistant Defense Commander's (助防將) troops, and the magistrate's troops; and each strives to take them, so that military administration is greatly disordered. When troops are called out, the letters come racing in all mixed together, and in the upholding and carrying out there is such confusion that

one does not know which to follow; and this is the utmost evil of the present day. Therefore now the troops of a county are all to be attached to the magistrate, so that when there is business and they are called out the magistrate

may each lead his own troops and come and hear the commanding general's order and follow only what he puts them to; and this is the simplest and the most vital. If the troops be not in order, or the teaching and drilling be done

slackly, the responsibility for it will not go to others but to the magistrate; so let each give his whole heart and put it in practice.

Item. Our country is not practiced in the art of formations; so now, when these soldiers of the people have been bound and gathered, if there be no one to teach them it is like a blind man who does not know the road, and it is utterly to be feared. Of late the evil of the Chinese instructors being divided among the provinces to teach has been grave. As for this province, the sending down of the Chinese instructors has already been resisted with all

our strength, and it has been made known among the people so that they should not be startled into clamor. Heo Su (許售), the detached commander at Yongjin, was good at the teaching of it

when he was at Anheungnyang in Chungcheong in days past; and so he has been appointed camp commander besides his own post and is to go about the several counties. Make it known as well that the company officers are to teach the troops together with him, and put it in practice.

Item. In the season free of farming, when business is at leisure, let the Defense Commander go out with the camp banner and gather the troops of the five battalions at one place and practice the art of formations on a great scale; when that time comes, hear the order passed down and put it in practice.

Item. If a company officer is diligent in his business and teaches and drills the troops he leads without hardship to them, so that the soldiers' hearts cleave to him and there is no resenting or finding it hard, and the number of those who accomplish their skills is great, then those among them who stand out particularly shall be reported to the sovereign particularly and given office; let all be told of this beforehand, that they may put out their strength.