Letter to the Hwanghae Inspector移黃海道巡察使文
凡政事施措之間貴在於順民之情民情旣順則事必有濟急之不可緩之亦不可况當此兵革板蕩之後瘡痍者未起流亡者未集今日之政當以懷保小民弔死問孤爲先使愛洽於民心然後其他鍊兵據險器械修措等事次第可擧此等緣由本道十分詳審施行山城修樂固爲今日之急務然形勢有緊歇之異功役有難易之殊先其緊且易者而後其歇且難者則民力不至困弊而防備之事亦無後時之虞矣近日忠淸道等處亦築山城而處處未得其宜多發民丁幷擧重役而監董者又不得人其於城制曲直山勢闊狹皆不細入思量只以茍且塞責爲務故築城未旣旋卽頹毀民力徒費而終不能爲可守之地極爲寒心道內山城時方始役之處未知幾處監董之人未知何人某處某日始役功役幾何某處形勢最好易於修築本道於始事之初詳盡計度使爲之必可成成之必可守亦不可多用民力於創殘餓羸之餘以擾民心諸處樂城形止急速牒報山城自募入居者除其身役出於權時不得已之擧若一處偶然爲之則猶可也許多山城皆用此令則避役之徒相率而歸之日月漸久則或有不入城中而冒托免役者虛僞滋生則軍士之避防厭番者驛卒舘軍之謀避身役者人吏官屬之厭苦就歇者紛然向之不勝其擾此亦不可不慮大抵山城必在於險絕之地平時則人不樂於居住惟當預設倉庫儲粟其處而或使僧徒居守約束隣近各官之民預爲分付臨時各從指揮處處入保則事甚便宜可以施行古語云百聞不如一見本道親在其處凡有見聞互相通議必使事無過擧然後可以成事爲此知委更加詳審回報
In all the setting forth of government and the disposing of affairs, what is precious lies in following the people's hearts. Once the people's hearts follow, the business will surely come about. It will not do to hurry it, nor will it do to slacken it; how much less at this time, after the state has been overturned by this war, when the wounded have not risen up and those scattered and gone have not gathered again. Today's government should put first the cherishing and keeping whole of the little people, the mourning of the dead and the consoling of the orphaned, so that love may be ample in the people's hearts; and only then can the other matters — drilling troops, taking stand on steep places, putting weapons in order and the like — be taken up in their turn. Let this province look into these grounds ten parts closely and put them in practice.
The repairing and building of the mountain fortresses is truly a pressing business of today. Yet in their posture there is the difference of vital and slack, and in the labor the difference of hard and easy; so if what is vital and also easy be done first and what is slack and also hard be done after, the people's strength will not come to be worn and spent, and the business of the defenses will have no fear of letting the season slip either.
Of late, in Chungcheong and those parts, mountain fortresses are being built as well, but nowhere has it got what is fitting. Many able-bodied men of the people are put out and heavy labors raised all at once, and those who oversee it are likewise not the right men; the bends and straights of the wall's design and the width and narrowness of the mountain's shape are not all closely reckoned, and they strive only to get carelessly clear of responsibility. And so, before the wall is even built to its finish, it falls down at once; the people's strength is spent for nothing and in the end it does not become a land that can be held. It is utterly pitiable. Of the mountain fortresses within the province, how many places are now just beginning their labor; who are the men overseeing them; which place began its labor on which day and how much work it comes to; which place is best in its posture and easy to repair and build — let this province reckon all of it closely at the very beginning of the business, so that what is done may surely be fit to be brought about, and what is brought about may surely be fit to be held. Nor must much of the people's strength be used, in the aftermath of ruin and of hungry wasting, so as to throw the people's hearts into clamor; report with haste how the wall-building stands in the several places.
To remit the personal service of those who of their own offering go in and dwell in the mountain fortresses is a measure that came of necessity for the time. If it be done so by chance in one place it may yet pass; but if this order be used in a great many mountain fortresses, the company who evade their service will draw one another along and turn that way; and as the months and years grow long, there will be those who do not even go inside the wall but get clear of service on a false pretext, and the empty and the false will multiply. Then soldiers who would avoid the frontier watch and dislike serving their turn, post-servants and government troops who scheme to evade their personal service, and clerks and government underlings who dislike hardship and would go where it is slack, will turn that way in confusion, and the clamor of it will be past bearing; and this too cannot but be feared.
In general the mountain fortresses, being needs in steep and cut-off places, are not places men are glad to live in in ordinary times. It is only fitting to set up granaries beforehand and pile grain there, and have monks dwell and keep them in some cases; and to charge the people of the several counties near by and give them directions beforehand, so that when the time comes they each follow the direction given and go in and hold them, place by place. Then the business is very convenient and fit to be put in practice.
The old saying has it that hearing a hundred times is not so good as seeing once. This province is on the spot in person; so whatever you see and hear, let it be shared and deliberated between us, that there may surely be no measure in the business that goes beyond what it should; only then can the business be brought about. I make it known for this reason: look into it yet more closely and report back.