356 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
behind ten soldiers on each of the ships to keep watch. Setting fire to the
military base of Xinshi, they took away four soldiers and their family mem-
bers. They killed two of them and seriously wounded three other people.’
“The fifth item was as follows: ‘Besides, these people sailed around dis-
guising themselves as Japanese merchants until they arrived in Ninghai
Prefecture. Then they slaughtered or kidnapped people recklessly. I learned
about this because one of the captured eunuchs ran away from them and
reported on what had happened.’
“I quietly deliberated over the above allegations. Our small kingdom has
served the great nation with utmost sincerity and never harbored any thought
of betrayal. How can I possibly make my people sail around disguised as
Japanese pirates and slaughter and plunder the people and their properties
in Jinzhou and Shandong and other places in China? According to the alle-
gation brought against me by Chang Kalmae, I sent my people disguised as
merchants to gather information on the domestic situation in China, but I do
not know who Chang Kalmae is. If my people indeed slaughtered people,
plundered, and committed other such crimes over there, how could they
collect the information they needed since the Chinese people kept them-
selves away from them? It is, therefore, indisputably self- evident that Chang
Kalmae lied.
“Previously, Yun I and Yi Ch’o ran away to the Chinese capital and caused
controversy by making false reports on their government, but their con-
spiracy was revealed and has already been punished thanks to the emperor’s
far- reaching insight and scrutiny. I am afraid that Chang Kalmae is also
probably a wicked person similar to Yun I and Yi Ch’o, and I suppose he
told such a lie because he was arrested by the Chinese authorities. So we
send our envoys to your court to vindicate ourselves, and the sun in the sky
is looking down on our grievances. It is hard to express them all orally. If
Your Majesty sends your official along with the bandit Chang Kalmae so
that he can be cross- examined by people here, we will be able to determine
whether what he said is true or false.
“The sixth item was as follows: ‘You pretend to be our vassal state paying
tribute, but whenever you send us horses as a token of your tribute, our horse
experts find them to be mostly too slow or exhausted. Among the tribute
horses you sent most recently, half of them were either lame or toothless or
unbroken, and the rest were all poor in quality, though they had no arthritis,
which indicates that you are lacking in sincerity by submitting such horses.