Book X 621
Receiving your sacred message, I am deeply grateful, along with our people
across the whole country. So I send Sŏl Changsu, an official of your vassal
state, along with others to the Ming capital and express my gratitude, pre-
senting saddled horses and other gifts.”
The government also sent a letter to the Ministry of Rites of China, which
read as follows: “Your servants Kwŏn Chunghwa and others returned home
with your instruction, and it was: ‘The number of Chosŏn envoys and their
retainers who visited the Ming capital on four occasions was twenty- six
altogether, and His Imperial Majesty was gracious enough to bestow a horse
upon each of them to ride on their return home.’ Upon hearing of it, we are
deeply grateful.”
The government also had Ch’oe Un, drafter of the Court of Interpreters,
transport Chin Ch’unggwi, former chief regional military commander of
Ŭiju, to the Ming capital and sent a letter to the Chief Military Commission
of the Left Army:
“According to the letter that we received, the officials of the Chief Military
Commission of the Left Army, including Yang Wen, received an imperial
order from the emperor, which read as follows: ‘Last May when Yang
Ch’ŏmsik, an envoy of Chosŏn responsible for presenting tribute horses,
returned to his country, the Regional Military Commission of Liaodong
ordered Company Commander Xia Zhi to escort Yang Ch’ŏmsik and his
entourage, but they drowned him in the river. You, the officials of the Chief
Military Commission of the Left Army, send a letter to the king of Chosŏn
and have the myriarch of Ŭiju personally appear and give an explanation for
the incident.’
“Upon receiving this letter from your Commission, our Privy Council
immediately ordered Chin Ch’unggwi, military commander of Ŭiju, to
submit a report on the accident. The report submitted by Chin Ch’unggwi
read as follows: ‘On the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the twenty-
eighth year of the reign of Hongwu, Company Commander Xia Zhi and
fourteen soldiers sent by the Regional Military Commission of Liaodong
arrived at the post guesthouse of Ŭiju, escorting Yang Ch’ŏmsik. While
they rested, a heavy summer rain fell. The river rose quickly, and they had
no choice but to stay there for ten days until the water level abated.
‘On the twenty- fifth day of that month, the weather cleared and Xia Zhi
urged his men to cross the river quickly in the six small boats they had. He
had eleven soldiers under his command leave first, taking four boats, and
they crossed the river to arrive at Posuofu [modern Dandong]. As for the