Letter to the Inspectors of Gyeonggi and Hwanghae移京畿黃海道巡蔡使文
今日。國事艱危南北邊境之患一時俱急非兵無以禦敵此愚夫愚婦所知也然鍊兵之要惟在守令盡心協力聽從上司號令視之爲己任戒勅把摠哨官勤勤鍊習撫摩完恤使民無離散怨苦之心然後操鍊之事始可成就而無弊近觀守令中有遠慮誠心國事者固不無其人但往往亦有習於流俗之意以鍊兵爲餘事而不足爲甚者若越人視秦人之肥瘠人或問之則必曰此乃把摠哨官之任也於吾有何干涉云此言定非出於有識之人亦恐傳聞之誤萬一因此頺廢軍政不擧則已曾束伍之軍亦難成就極爲可慮哨軍只爲鍊習之事而今煙家雜役抄發之時皆用唷軍云尤爲駭愕今後十分戒勅使無如此之弊本道巡察使歲末殿最時更考守令鍊兵實迹以行黜陟其中如有盡心其事卓有成效者一一牒報軍門使得。啓聞論賞以他人
The state's affairs today are hard and perilous, and the troubles on the southern and northern frontiers are all urgent at one time; without soldiers the enemy cannot be held off. This is what even a foolish husband and wife know.
Yet the essential of training soldiers lies only in the magistrates giving their whole mind and joining their strength, following the commands of their superiors and holding it to be their own charge. Only when they caution and impress the battalion commanders and company officers and make them drill diligently, and comfort and protect the people wholly so that the people have no mind to scatter or to resent, does the business of drilling at last succeed and go without abuses.
Among the magistrates of late there are indeed some who are far-sighted and give their sincerity to the state's business. Only, there are at times those steeped in the current fashion who treat the training of soldiers as a side matter and say it is not worth doing, and the worst of them look on as a man of Yue looks on the fatness or leanness of a man of Qin. If anyone asks them, they are sure to say, "This is the charge of the battalion commanders and company officers. What has it to do with me?" Such words surely did not come from a man of discernment, and I rather think the report of them is in error. If through this things fall into ruin and are abandoned and the military administration is not carried out, then even the soldiers already entered in the sogo ranks will be hard to make; it is deeply worrying.
The company troops are only for the business of drill, yet now it is said that whenever miscellaneous service is levied on the people's households the company troops are always used; this is the more astonishing. From now on caution and impress it fully, so that there is no such abuse.
Let the Inspector of this province, at the year-end performance rating, look again into the magistrates' actual results in training soldiers and carry out demotions and promotions. If among them there are any who have given their whole mind to the business and have risen above the rest in their results, report each one to the military office, so that they may be memorialized and rewards considered, and others thereby encouraged.
Interlinear notes 4
The title in the base text is 「移京畿黃海道巡蔡使文」, taken as an error for 「巡察使」, Inspector.
The base text has 「皆用唷軍」, taken as an error for 「哨軍」, the company troops.
The base text has 「論賞以他人」, taken as an error for 「以勸他人」, "and others thereby encouraged."
「Jeonchoe (殿最)」 was the yearly performance rating in which a magistrate's merits and faults were graded.