The First Division of the Japanese army of Yukinaga KONISHI and Yoshitomo SO, who acted as the spearhead and negotiators by changing Hideyoshi's idea 'subjection of Yi Dynasty Korea and guiding expedition to Ming' to 'to borrow roads to Ming from Korea' and asked Yi Dynasty Korea to negotiate to accept the requests.
先鋒と交渉役を務めた小西行長や宗義智の日本軍一番隊は、しばしば秀吉が考える「李氏朝鮮の服属と明遠征の先導（征明嚮導）」を「朝鮮に明への道を借りる（假途入明）」に言い換えた上で李氏朝鮮に求めに応じるよう交渉を呼びかけている。