But Sin replied, “I have enjoyed pleasures with you and now I prefer to suffer with you.” So the two died together. The Japanese general in command was so impressed with the bravery of this prefect Song Sang-hyŭn that he had his body decently buried and erected over his grave a wooden monument on which he wrote “A Loyal Subject,” an epitaph than which none could be more grateful to a true Korean gentleman. Tradition, which delights to embellish[embellish] such accounts, avers that for two years a red light could be seen glimmering at night above the gate where this man met his end.
When Gen. Yi Kak, the cautious, and Gen. Pak Hong who was with him, heard of the fall of Tong-nă, they took to their heels and consequently their forces did likewise. And here it should be noted that cowardice evinced itself almost exclusively in the generals and other officers. We shall find that in almost every instance the soldiers stood by their officers to the last man.
As the forces of the Japanese moved northward the prefects fled to right and left. The governor of the province, Kim Su, hearing of the battle at Tong-nă, advanced toward that place with all the forces at his command, but his determination seems to have wavered, perhaps on account of the growing rumors of the prowess of the Japanese; for before he came in sight of the invading army he turned to the west and south, alarming all the prefects as he went; and so it is said that this whole portion of the province was practically depopulated.
When the Japanese arrived at Yŭng-san they found it empty. They swarmed over Chak-wŭn Pass like ants and filled the plain beyond. Pak Chin the prefect of Mi-ryang burned all the provisions and arms and fled to the mountains. Not so with Sŏ Yi-wŭn the prefect of Kim-hă. He stayed inside his fortress[fortress] and defied the invaders. The latter could not effect an entrance until they went and cut down a large field of barley in the neighborhood, which they tied in bundles and heaped against the wall till they were able to scale it. Having done his best and failed the prefect made good his escape. U Pok-yong, prefect of Yong-gung, as in duty bound, called in his retainers and started to join the banner of his chief, Yi Kak, whose whereabouts at that time was rather uncertain as we have already seen. During a halt for dinner two hundred soldiers from the town of Ha-yang passed them on their way to join the forces of the governor. U Pok-yong seems to have had so large an opinion of himself that he was enraged because these soldiers did not dismount when they passed him. They were of course ignorant of his rank, but he had them all seized and executed and sent a note to the governor saying that he had destroyed a band of two hundred robbers. For this meritorious service he was elevated to the rank of district-general.
Meanwhile Gen. Yi Kak, the provincial general, was flying from place to place in momentary fear of encountering the enemy. His troops were disgusted at this, for they had made some rude guns that would throw pebbles and they thought if they could have a fair chance at the Japanese they could give them a whipping.
On the seventeenth, four days after the landing of the Japanese, the startling news reached Seoul. The city was thrown into a sort of panic. The ministers hastened to the palace to consult about ways and means for defense. Yi Il was the highest actual field officer in the country. He was of the third military rank but the two above him were simply the minister and vice-minister of war and always stayed with the king. Gen. Yi Il may then be said to have been the General-in-chief of all the armies of Korea at the time.
There were three main roads leading up from the south to the capital, any one of which might be chosen by the Japanese. The most direct of these was the central one leading over the mountain chain at the celebrated Cho-ryŭng (Pass). Another to the east crossed the mountains at Chuk-nyŭng (Pass) and a third to the west led through the center of Ch’ung-ch’ŭng province. To guard these three approaches the king ordered Gen. Yi Il to go south by the middle road and station a garrison at Cho-ryŭng, the most important strategic point in the Japanese line of march. Gen. Pyŭn Keui was to be stationed in charge of this garrison. The eastern road was to be guarded by Gen. Yu Keuk-nyang and Pyŭn Eung-sŏng was made prefect of the important southern town of Kyŏng-ju. All these men were ordered to start for their respective posts immediately. At a late hour of that same day came the news of the[the] fall of Fusan, for someone from the summit of a neighboring hill had seen the red banners of the Japanese swarming over the walls into the doomed town.
These generals who had been ordered to start in such hot haste were practically without forces. When the military rolls were looked[looked] up it was found that the army was mostly on paper and that a large majority of the men were either “sick” or were “in mourning.” So the whole force that Gen. Yi Il could muster amounted to just three hundred men. Even these could not be mustered at an hour’s notice, and so in order to obey the king’s command, the unfortunate general had to start off alone, trusting that this pitiful handful of men would[would] follow him. The sight of the General-in-chief of the armies of Korea starting out alone to meet the mighty army of invasion would be comical were it not so pathetic. Of course the intention was to gather troops as he went, and we shall see that he did succeed in getting together at least the semblance of an army.
The Prime Minister Yu Sŭng-nyong was made Minister of War and charged with the duty of gathering a competent force to cope with the dreaded Japanese. Sil Yip was also appointed Vice-minister of War. He seems to have been specially trusted by the king for the latter gave him a splendid sword and sent him south with the injunction to kill anyone who should prove unfaithful, even though it be Gen. Yi Il himself. Here we see another grievous mistake, in thus giving a man an independent command over the head of the General-in-chief. It well illustrates a defect that has brought disaster to many an army—namely the confusing of authority. As Sil Yip came out from this audience with the king he slipped on the stone steps and his court hat fell from his head. The attendants looked upon this with dismay for it was considered an omen of ill-success. The general went south only eighty li and stopped at Yong-in.
Kim Sŭng-il whom we will remember as the man who accompanied the cowardly envoy Whang Yun-gil to Japan and who had so severely censured him for his craven conduct, was now made commander of all the forces in the western part of Kyŭng-sang Province. He started for his post immediately and in a few days arrived at the important town of Chin-ju, just as the Japanese were approaching. His escort had become somewhat scattered, but he was not going to take a backward step even to save his life. Dismounting he seated himself in the official chair having with him only a corporal and a dozen soldiers. It was a common custom for the Japanese to wear hideous masks for the purpose of terrifying the Koreans. On this occasion, when the van of the Japanese army entered the town it was led by a burly fellow wearing an extremely large and extremely ugly mask. The corporal strung his bow and let fly a shaft which pierced the mask and laid its wearer low. His followers beat a hasty retreat supposing that no one would be shooting arrows about like that unless there was a considerable force of soldiers in the immediate vicinity. We are not told as to the fate of the bold general. In this part of the province the prefects seem to have been made of better stuff than those further south, for they sent to each other urging the necessity of standing at their posts and offering whatever resistance they could to the advance of the enemy.