The king set a strong guard all about the wall, appointing Gen. Sin Kyöng-jin to guard the East Gate, Gen. Ku Kweng the South Gate, Gen. Yi Sö the North Gate and Gen. Yi Si-băk the West Gate. Generals Wŭn Tu-p‘yo, Ku In-hu, Han Whe-il and Pak Whan went all about the wall with strong bodies of troops, to prevent the entrance of any scaling party. The whole number of troops in the fortress was about 12,000. Gen. Nam An-gap held the important position of Commissariat Chief. The king’s retinue and court consisted of 200 officials, 200 of his relatives, 100 clerks, and 300 servants of different degrees. All these received their salary in rice. Officials of the first and second grades were allowed to have three servants and two horses, those of the third, fourth and fifth grades could have two servants and one horse, while those below these could have but one servant and one horse, The commander-in-chief was Gen. Kim Nyu. His advice to the king was to send the crown prince and the prime minister at once and make the best terms possible. It was decided to deceive the enemy if possible, so Neung Pong-su, a distant relative of the king, assumed the name of the king’s younger brother, and Sim Chip assumed the role of crown prince. Together they sallied out to try their hand on the Manchus. When they came before Mabudă, that hardheaded warrior looked them over, turned them inside out and sent them back to the king with the curt reply that, “As you have been trying to play a trick on us we will now consent to treat with no one whatever except the crown prince himself. If you will send him we will talk with you.” This they demanded in spite of the statements of the messengers that the crown prince was still in mourning for his mother.
When this ultimatum was delivered to the king there was a division of opinion. Gen. Kim Nyu and several others averred that there was nothing to do but comply with the demands But the king said, “I will die first.” Kim Sang-hön took the other side and said, “Whoever talks of surrendering so tamely is a traitor.” On the seventeenth the king sent Hong Sö-bong to the Manchu camp and said, “I am willing to send my second or third son to you but they are all in Kang-wha.” They answered as before, “We will see no one but the crown prince.” When the crown prince expressed his willingness to go, a courtier said, “We have a good strong garrison and shall we tamely surrender and send our future king into the clutches of these highwaymen? If he goes I shall strangle myself with my own bridle.” Another said, “Let us fight them. We are men, not straw manikins.” So the king made up his mind that it would be war and not surrender and he so proclaimed, “We shall fight to the bitter end. Let no one expect or hope for peace.” He then despatched a letter to Kim Cha-jŭm in P’yŭng-yang, saying “We are hemmed in here and our forces are small and food scarce, but we have determined to fight it out even though it ends the dynasty. So hasten and come to our aid with all the forces at your command.” The next day the guard of the North Gate made a successful sally, returning with six Manchu heads. This excited the soldiers almost to frenzy, and they were eager to rush out and engage the besiegers. Unfortunately all the rice that had been stored at the river for the provisioning of Nam-han had been seized by the Manchus, but the arms and ammunition were safe within the walls. The king took advantage of the elation of the soldiers over this successful sally to make them a little speech, in which he remarked, “Shall we surrender or fight? It is for you to say.” Sim Kwang-su answered grimly for them all and said “Show us the head of the man who advised to surrender.” This referred to Gen. Ch’oe Myŭng-gil, but the rest did not dare to second the request. From that time the walls were guarded with renewed vigilance. Day after day the smoke of the Manchu camps went up to heaven round about the beleagured fortress. On the nineteenth the king sacrificed at the tomb of On-jo, the founder of the ancient kingdom of Păk-je of which Nam-han was for many years the capital. On the same day Gen. Ku Kweng made a sally from the West Gate and took twenty Manchu heads. This again excited the garrison almost beyond control. The following day a renegade Korean who had gone over to the Manchus came near the gate and parleyed with the guard, urging that the king surrender and make peace; but when the king heard of it he ordered that if the man came again he should not be met at the gate but that the guard should only talk down at him from the top of the wall.