This work is a documentary war painting produced to honor those who were martyred in the battle at Dongnae Fortress (present-day Dongnae-gu in Busan) on the fifteenth day of the fourth lunar month of 1592 during the Japanese Invasions of Korea. Patriotic Martyrs at Dongnae-bu features Dongnae Fortress (which was located inland) in the center of the composition and depicts a raging battle taking place both inside and outside of the fortress using a bird’s-eye perspective. Drawing on the convention of portraying multiple events occurring at different times within a single frame, several scenes and episodes from the battle are illustrated by effectively reorganizing them. As a case in point, Song Sang-hyeon (1551–1592), a district magistrate of Dongnae at the time, appears in the composition twice. In one place, he is depicted fiercely fighting back the Japanese forces, and in another spot he is shown martyred in front of the guesthouse. By contrasting Song with the turncoat Yi Gak (?–1592), this painting effectively conveys its goal of exalting loyalty, which is an important objective of documentary war paintings. A painterly map format is combined in this work with a circular composition and a bird’s-eye perspective. These styles of depiction follow the style of earlier patriotic martyrs paintings rather than being original inventions by Byeon Bak.