The relatives of Gen. Kang were kept informed by him of the state of affairs in the north, and they sent large sums of money to Norach’i to buy him off and prevent him from invading Korea; and it may be that it was this, at least in part, that delayed it for some time. The king’s messengers found the road to Nanking blocked by the Manchus and so had to turn back. The king thereupon sent envoys one after another by boat, but as the Koreans were poor sailors, they failed to land at the right place and fell into the hands of the Manchus or were wrecked by storms. The Manchus now, in 1621, held the whole of Liao-tung and the Chinese residents were fleeing in all directions. Thousands of them crossed into Korea and many crossed over to the islands of Ok-kang and In-san near the mouth of the Yalu River and there, huddled together in wretchedness and want, bewailed their pitiable condition. The prefect of Eui-ju implored the king to forward troops to hold the Manchus in check and the Chinese Gen. Wang wrote the king demanding a contingent of Korean troops to oppose the wild horde that threatened the Ming power. But the king was utterly incompetent, and all Seoul was in a ferment. The king thought only of himself, and looked to it that a comfortable place was arranged for him on the island of Kang-wha, in case it should become necessary for him to leave Seoul. In the early summer a Korean named Yi Yöng-bang, who had gone over to the Manchus body and soul, and had become son-in-law to Norach’i, took a body of Manchu cavalry, crossed over to the islands of Ok-kang and In-san and massacred all the Chinese refugees he could lay hands on. This again struck terror to the heart of the king, and it threw Seoul into a fever of excitement. The king collected nine thousand troops from the southern provinces and stationed them at Su-wŭn, but there was no one whom he could appoint general-in-chief; so he had to recall from banishment Han Chun-gyŭm and confer this honor upon him. Han Myŭng-yŭn was made second in command. He was a man of low extraction but had acquired a certain amount of fame in the Japanese invasion.