Letter to the Governor and Army Commander of Pyeongan移平安道監兵使文

In the royal memorandum of a certain day of this month it was said, and so forth.

The sovereign's care, looking westward night and day, has come to this. The servants who bear the charges should pour out heart and strength and ply the magistrates and the frontier officers with the whip, and think on it night and day and seek good counsel widely, and make it their far-seeing reckoning. Only when the court is set free for good from the trouble of frontier alarms is the duty fulfilled; it must not be that they go slowly and carelessly, dressing up papers to make good their responsibility and letting the months and years go by. Look closely into the several articles within the royal directive and uphold and carry them out.

In general the posture of today takes Gwanseo (關西) alone for its root, so the matters to be disposed of may not be put off in the least. From of old, the plans of fighting and holding go no further than army provisions, soldiery, walls and moats, and weapons and gear. Only when these four are all furnished, and there is besides the concord of men to bind their hearts firmly, and a good commander on top of that, can the business be brought about.

Now to speak of army provisions, they are exhausted everywhere and cannot meet even a few months' use; and to speak of the soldiery, the magistrates are slack and take no care, so that it is in utter disorder and no thread can be got of it. The walls and moats are already gravely out of repair and there is no place firm as iron and boiling water; the weapons and gear are scattered and all but gone, the guns and the gunpowder and the rest are not furnished, and even the bows and arrows are all scattered. Of the four there is not one that can be spoken of, while the people's resentment pierces to heaven so that the concord of men too has nothing to be trusted in; and the shape of this peril and urgency cannot be told in full in one word or two.

Yet it cannot be that, because the posture is hard, it be put off and not planned for. The Patrol Commissioner should make demotion and promotion strict and clear and so set up the bonds of discipline, and let no greedy officials and crafty clerks plunder from below. Reckon one by one all that must be amended as an evil and all that must be raised up as a profit, and abolish and carry out accordingly. The Army Commander should look closely into the posture of the garrison forts along the border and dispose of them against the pressing hour: let the walls and moats be set up where they are fit to be set up, let the native troops who are withered and worn be soothed, and let the weapons that are not exact be mended. If, while the time is free of business, it be governed in every way like the business of one household, then though it fall short counted by days it will have a surplus counted by years, and sooner or later a whole and sturdy posture will surely be brought about. The reason the sovereign's teaching comes down again and again so earnestly lies truly here; grave it the deeper on your hearts.

Further, the one city of Pyeongyang has been called steep and firm by nature ever since Sui and Tang. In general its lay of the land, girt by the river and leaning on the mountain, seems made by heaven. What it lacks is that the shape of the wall is rather wide, so that with few soldiers it is hard to hold. The design of the gun-tower as it now is, is truly the subtle law of holding walls for all ages; and once this tower is finished, there is no fear of its being hard to hold though the number of soldiers be few. It is heard that the Patrol Commissioner would set up more outside the wall this spring; far-sighted indeed is his reckoning that takes Gwanseo for the root.

Only, in the making of them, there is profit only when the method of it is gone through to the full. In general the shape of our country's walls is bent and curving; so if the gun-tower be set too close against the wall, there are places where the path of the gun going out to left and right is blocked and it is hard to reach far. In such places it should be set off from the wall by two or three bays, or four or five, and the cannon placed along each of those bays. The more gun-holes there are, the farther their force reaches, and within a thousand paces the enemy will not dare come near. And if one gun-tower besides be set up beyond a thousand paces, standing tall and facing it, then the great cannon of the two places will strike in by turns, and though the enemy be a million he will hardly go forward beneath the wall. This is the very subtle law of it. Now, at the very outset of the making, look into the posture exactly once more and put it in practice. The places along the river fit for setting up garrison forts are likewise to be set out one after another.

The earthen wall of Sukcheon is fit in its width and narrowness. Though its labor cannot be raised along with the rest now, let strength be gathered little by little and let it be made the plan for repairing and carrying it on. As for the building out of the wall of Anju, take this season of the thaw and fell timber above the Cheongcheon and float it down by the water. It is convenient only if the east gate be first set up on the road at the southern corner of the public granary and the wall built out afterward. There is no harm either in rebuilding the north gate with the timber of the old east gate. Only, the people must not be thrown into clamor in the farming season, so it is fitting to employ the monk troops and the naval troops as is convenient.

Whoever within the province, being rich and having grain and having a mind for the affairs of the state, wishes to add his strength; whatever monks have put their strength into the business; and whatever overseers have given their whole hearts to handling the business — report them in their grades with haste when the labor is finished. They shall be reported and rewards deliberated for them.

The register of the drilled troops has not come to this day, which is truly strange and to be sighed over. When the aide went down, the regulations for drilling troops were already told him. As for the law of the garrison commands, look to it and charge them with it continually, so that it does not grow slack and fall in ruin.

The garrison command of Seongcheon lies above the Taedong, and is as cart and outrigger with Pyeongyang. The counties and towns belonging to it, moreover, are far more than those of the other garrison commands, so that the root intent with which our ancestral court set them out is truly not in vain. If the garrison command of Seongcheon be made to fulfill its charge and get some thousands of picked soldiers and make of them a soldiery under good order, then Pyeongyang can already be made sturdy, and the road through Suan and Goksan in Hwanghae can be blocked and cut off besides. Only after this will the one stream of the Taedong come to have the firmness of a moat made by heaven. Look closely into such a far-seeing plan and ply them with the whip and put it in practice. Next, from the garrison command of Anju downward, they should likewise be set in order one after another. Whether the magistrates are diligent or slack in upholding and carrying it out — bind it all up within reward and punishment, and do not leave them to do as they please. This year's farming is to be particularly urged upon them. The other matters cannot all be laid before you; put them in practice as is convenient.