Letter Charging the Gyeonggi Inspector and Left Defense Commander豹束京畿巡察使左防禦使文

The articles for blocking the fords upstream have, in the main, already been given out. From Yeoju down to Yanggeun, from Yanggeun to Yongjin, from Yongjin to Gwangjin, and from Gwangjin to Jajado is the charge of the Left Defense Commander. Let the battalion commanders (把摠) of each sa and the company officers (哨官) of each cho take the Defense Commander's direction, add to or take from the number of troops according to whether the lie of each ford is vital or slack, and divide the ground one after another and block it off.

Take a bond from the battalion commanders first, to this effect: that from such a place to such a place is the charge of such a man, and that if he is slack and botches it, or does not use the chief commander's orders, he will gladly take the punishment of military law. After that let the battalion commanders in turn take bonds from the company officers, and the company officers lead the banner chiefs (旗總) and squad chiefs (隊總) and charge them one after another. Order it three times beforehand and repeat it five times, that they may make their minds one and join their strength, and that not by a hair's breadth shall any go crooked or break the charge and so walk of himself into a heavy crime. Of the bonds taken, keep one copy at the Defense Commander's station and send one copy up to the army command and to the Inspector's station, to serve as ground for examining the matter hereafter.

In general, though military law makes strictness its chief thing, it lies still more in the charge being clear. The book of war says: 〈When the charge is not plain and the soldiers break it, the fault is the commander's; when the charge is already plain and the soldiers break it, the fault is the soldiers'.〉 Let the Defense Commander look into it himself, closely and in full measure, and give out his orders plainly; and let the battalion commanders and company officers and those below them take the Defense Commander's direction with one mind and not dare to go against it.

In the lie of the river, what weighs most lies wholly at Yeoju. For the depth and shallowness of the water and the length and straightness of the roads, men of that place who know that place's business closely ought to be made the chief and set to hold it; and only when guest troops are added to the defense to lend their strength can there be no loss.

Let the battalion commander south of the water at Yeoju form the head of the line and range his men along the face of the river; and let the battalion commander north of the water follow below him, coming right against Pasa Fortress (婆娑城), and make it his plan to go into Pasa Fortress and hold it. Let the Icheon battalion commander follow below him again, and the troops of Yanggeun follow below him again, reaching to Yongjin. Let the cho troops of Yi Jungbok (李中復) of Yanggeun hold Mount Buyong.

But this one cho is short of troops and not enough for use; so men of the neighbourhood, be they holders of local rank or old and weak, ought all to be made to go into Mount Buyong and make it the place they hold. Range flags and torches in numbers, so that above they answer to Pasa Fortress and below they answer to Yongjin, and there will not be one loss in ten thousand. Let this business be given wholly to the magistrate of Yanggeun, to lead the people of his district, take the measures, and wait.

Look closely beforehand into the narrow mountain paths and the shallow fords that may be crossed within the bounds of Gapyeong, upstream of Yongjin. When the time comes, watch where the enemy's strength turns, answer one another, set ambushes, and diligently block and cut them off. This cannot be ordered item by item; it rests upon how well the commander fixes his plans beforehand and answers the turn of things as it comes.

The troops of Yeoju and Icheon south of the water have already moved across to the north of the river and blocked and cut the river road, and so their old and weak, and the able-bodied who remain, ought likewise to follow to the north of the river and wait for the enemy to withdraw. There cannot but be a place where they may lean and stay and gather. Let each battalion commander choose a high bank by the water, a place where the lie of the ground is open to view and a steep spot may be held fast, and there, leading the men of his one sa and the people who have fled the troubles, set up a stockade or an earthen bank, and with the same strength put up rough temporary houses to keep off the wind and rain. If this plan comes to pass, the camps ranged along the river will run on in sight of one another and reach to the capital, and the lie of them will be grand and firm, so that though the enemy come there will be nothing to fear.

The troops of Gwangju ought to block the north of the river. Namhansanseong alone is of a very steep lie, and the people of Gwangju are exceedingly many in number; if not this fortress, there is no other place they can go. Next spring, when that fortress is mended and takes some shape, the troops of the roads above and below Gwangju, the old and weak men and women within its bounds, and the troops of Namgung Gan (南宮簡), the post officer of Gyeongan, ought all alike to go into this fortress. If they make a lie of the ground wherein they and the capital lean one upon the other, and so become the great camp south of the river, then the lie for holding the fords will be firmer still. The monk-general Yujeong (惟政) is already there; charge him again particularly, and lay upon the magistrate of Gwangju the whole responsibility for taking the measures, with blame to follow if there is any fault.

As for the clearing of the fields, if it is done in haste the people will resent it, and if it is slackened it will not come up with the business. Let the magistrates of the two districts weigh the people's feeling and settle under what head last year's land tax of Yeoju and Icheon and the Ming grain should be carried in, that there may be no burden. Yeoju, though its distance from Pasa Fortress is very short, will surely burden the people if the grain is moved by land. Next spring, after the ice has melted, to carry it by boat along the current is handy and fitting to the state of things; weigh this too and put it in hand as is convenient.