Gen. Kim Nyu had the idea that the Manchu force was weakest on the south and that if a sudden, determined attack were made the line might be broken through. So on the twenty-ninth he called all the generals and gave his orders. They all disagreed with him and considered the project hopeless, but would not show insubordination. A considerable body, therefore, emerged from the South Gate, hastened down the valley against the surrounding line of besiegers. These men had no faith in the plan, however, and were prevented from turning back only by the sword of Gen. Kim Nyu which he used on a few as a warning to the rest. Gen. Sin said, “This is actual suicide. Let me take my company and go out here and show you at the cost of my life that this cannot be done.” He pushed rapidly forward and was soon surrounded by the Manchus who had lain concealed in a bend of the hills, and he and his men were all cut down. When the ammunition of his men was gone they clubbed their muskets and fought to the bitter end. Two hundred Koreans fell in this rash adventure and Gen. Kim returned crest-fallen and ashamed. Having no excuse, he tried to lay the blame on others, claiming that they did not support him properly. He also told the king that only forty men had been killed. Sim Keui-wŭn who had been left as guardian of Seoul sent a letter to the king saying that he had made a fierce attack on the Manchus encamped at A-o-gă outside the West Gate, but the king afterwards learned that this was false, and that Sim had fled incontinently from before the face of the foe. When the last day of the year 1636 arrived it found the relative position of the Koreans and Manchus as follows: The Manchu camps were filled with plunder and with women which the soldiers had captured; but what of the children? These the soldiery did not want, and so they were killed and their bodies thrown outside the camps. There they lay in piles and a pestilence was prevented only by the intense cold of winter. In Nam-han the greatest distress prevailed. The provisions had not held out as had been hoped. Food was all but exhausted and horses and cattle were dying of starvation. The king slept in his ordinary clothes, for he had given all his blankets to the soldiers. All he had to eat with his rice was the leg or wing of a chicken. On that last day of the year some magpies gathered and began building a nest in a tree near the king’s quarters. This was hailed as a hopeful omen. It shows to what straits the garrison was reduced that it should have pinned its faith to this childish superstition. It was the sole subject of conversation for some time, but it did the caged Korean king no good.