In accordance with the demands of the Manchus, the king sent 5,000 troops to accompany them in their invasion of China, but as they arrived a month later than the set time they were sent back home by the angry Manchus. Early in the following year, however, Generals Yi Wan and Im Kyöng-ŭp started with 5,000 troops and joined the Manchu army. The plan was to attack Teung-nă on the Shantung promontory; whether by land or sea is not clear, but probably by land. This being known to the Koreans, three boats were secretly despatched to the threatened place, giving warning of the attack, and stating that the Koreans joined in the attack with the Manchus because forced to do so. It was suggested that whenever feasibly the Chinese and Korean forces should use only blank charges against each other. This was gladly agreed to and in a battle at Puk-sin-gu, which followed, not one man was killed among the Chinese forces that were brought in contact with the Korean contingent, and the latter suffered as little. The Chinese general managed to get a letter to the Koreans saying “The emperor reminds you of the vital aid he gave Korea at the time of the Japanese invasion and he now offers the half of his kingdom to anyone who will seize and deliver to him the Manchu general in command.” This reveals in a striking manner the desperate straits to which the Chinese had been brought by the Manchus. The Korean generals did not see their way to accede to this but they kept the Chinese informed of every movement of the Manchus, where they were weak and where they were strong, where they were likely to attack and where they might be successfully attacked. In this way the Manchus were continually thwarted and the Chinese encouraged. It was proposed that there be a combined Manchu and Korean attack upon Kon-ju-wi near the point of the Shantung promontory, the Manchus to attack by land and the Koreans by sea; but the latter said they had no provisions and their boats were in very bad order. The Manchus replied “Then you had better go home,” an injunction that they were by no means loath to obey. Meanwhile the king had been doing what he could to mitigate the sufferings consequent upon the invasion. He ordered all the eight provinces to give rice to help the poor, the widows and the orphans, and to provide proper burial for those who had no near relatives who could afford the expense. He likewise gave strong encouragement to the Confucian School in the capital. He sent spies throughout the land to discover whether the prefects were attending to their duties well. Fearing that the guard along the Tu-man River might be suffering, he made them a grant of 4,000 pieces of cotton. He likewise gave money to repair the ancient altar on the top of Ma-ri-san (Mountain) on the island of Kang-wha. This altar is said to have been used by the Tan-gun two thousand years before Christ, and may well be believed it to be the oldest monument in Korea.