Letter to the Provincial and Army Headquarters of Hamgyeong移咸鏡道監兵營文
本道所送鍊兵隊伍册見之則容貌年歲置簿內不書營將把摠哨官旗總姓名有似無頭之物殊爲未穩見㨾一本書送依此改書上送鍊兵必須得其要領便易無弊使人心樂赴然後庶見成效括軍一事最爲今日大弊而官門待令又是百姓所厭苦者今宜痛革此弊就一邑內各面各里各村隨其所居地面擇定勤幹人爲哨官旗隊總簽得現存丁壯團束行伍使之各自操鍊於村巷如鄕徒聚會習射之爲者而守令但觀其勤慢能否明示賞罰則人心激勸事不煩擾鍊士興起自至如林矣此卽管子內政篇所謂教士三萬橫行天下者而其規矩要約正爲今日所當法者各別知委申勅施行三水甲山尤爲孤弱軍糧不可不先期措置以爲接濟援兵之計若不預措則臨時雖欲入送數千健兒將無以爲䇿乘此閒暇之時一應贖木鹽石等物連綿入送于兩處隨便販賣生糓一事最爲緊急更爲商度施行
Looking at the book of drill ranks sent up by this province, within the register recording faces and ages the names of the camp commanders, battalion commanders, company officers, and squad leaders are not entered, so that it is like a thing without a head; this is quite improper. I send a written sample; write it over in accordance with this and send it up.
In the training of soldiers, only when the knack of it is got, so that it is convenient and easy and free of abuses and the hearts of the people go gladly forward, is any result nearly to be seen. The single business of scraping soldiers together is a great abuse of today, and coming out to the office gate and waiting for orders is likewise what the people dislike and find hard.
Now this abuse should be thoroughly reformed. In each township and each village within a district, according to where men live, choose diligent men and appoint them company officers, squad leaders, and section leaders; levy the able-bodied men now present, bind them into ranks, and have each drill in his own village, as a village association gathers to practice archery. Let the magistrate only look to their diligence or slackness and their doing well or ill, and make reward and punishment plain. Then the hearts of the people will gain strength, affairs will not be troublesome, and trained soldiers will rise up of themselves like a forest. This is just what the "Inner Administration" chapter of Guanzi means by going where one will through all under heaven with thirty thousand trained soldiers; its scheme and its knack are precisely what should be taken as a model today. Make it known particularly, impress it again, and carry it out.
Samsu and Gapsan are the more isolated and weak, and army grain must be made ready beforehand as a plan for supplying relief troops. If it is not made ready beforehand, then when the time comes there will be no plan, though one wish to send in several thousand sturdy soldiers. Taking this idle season, the one business of sending bolts of hemp cloth and loads of salt and the like into the two places in succession, and selling them as convenient and turning them into grain, is the most urgent; reckon it again and carry it out.
Interlinear notes 1
七月四日
The fourth day of the seventh month.