Gen. Sin Kyöng-wan, stationed at Ong-jin in Whang-hă Province, was surrounded by the enemy, but the place was so difficult of approach, owing to the roughness of the ground, that they could not reduce it; so, hoping to draw out the garrison they feigned retreat. Gen. Sin was not to be caught thus, and sent out one of his lieutenants to reconnoitre. That man happened to be just recovering from a wound, and so he did not go far, but spent the night in a neighboring inn. He came back in the morning and reported the enemy gone. Gen. Sin then led out his troops to take them to the vicinity of Seoul; but the Manchus, who were lying concealed in the vicinity, rushed out upon him and captured him. He was released only after peace had been declared. At Nam-han a severe mental struggle was going on. They well knew that surrender and humiliation were inevitable but their pride revolted at the thought, and each tried to throw the blame on the other. This may be illustrated by a single case which will show how mutual recriminations were being made in the very presence of the siege-weary king. Yu Păk-jeung memorialized the king in these words: “Gen. Kim Nyu who holds the rank of General-in-chief is a man of no military skill, a man of jealous, vindictive temperament and his house is full of bribes. When the king came to Nam-han it was almost without retinue, but he, forsooth, must bring sixty horsemen at his back. And the females of his household came in litters. He it was who urged the king to give up the crown prince to the tender mercies of the Manchu wolves. He it was who compassed the humiliation of the king by advising him to send that self-effacing letter which, though so humble, was rejected. This is all the work of Kim Nyu.” Here as elsewhere we see that personal spite has always been the rock on which the interests of Korea have been wrecked. The emperor knew that he had the king secure, and he determined to delay the ratification of a treaty until his captive was reduced to the last crust, in order to brand upon the memory of all Koreans the indubitable fact of their vassalage and to teach them a lesson that they should never forget. And so the days slipped by.