Post by ajk on Jun 29, 2015 0:13:20 GMT -5
This will be a two-part ambush, each part led by one of the two generals that Ryu talked to. The first part works like a charm; Lee Sieon's unit strikes the retreating Japanese from the sides of their path and forces them forward in a panic.
The second part, well...Kim Gyeongro's unit is in position to hit the fleeing enemy head-on and capture Konishi. But then Kim tells them all to withdraw! Seriously? He says that Ryu has no authority here since it isn't Pyeongan province, and that Li Rusong didn't want an ambush and he can't disregard Li's instructions. Wow.
We see the Joseon and Ming troops enter Pyongyang to the delight of the locals, after a seven-month occupation and four days of battle. Narration tells us that this "turned the tables of the war."
Ryu is dumbfounded to learn what Kim Gyeongro did. He orders Kim's arrest. Kim is brought to him and a furious Ryu is just about to execute him personally, when Li Rusong shows up and pulls rank on Ryu, saving Kim's life literally at the last second. Li leads Kim away and even offers him a drink. All Ryu can do is throw down his sword in frustration.
Meanwhile...Konishi is furious. Understandably. And he's lost a lot of soldiers. Some went AWOL and others were left behind because they were too weak to continue. He's down to barely 6,000 out of his original 18,000. And more are going AWOL right there in front of him. At least it looks that way, maybe not...Incredibly, Konishi starts killing them! Himself! His own men. He kills three before So Yoshitoshi and Genso restrain him. Wow.
"We finally pushed the Japanese army south." Gwanghae gets the news about Pyongyang and is greatly heartened.
Seonjo gets the news too, but he's more selfish about it. "The soldiers of Ming are different. I can finally save face a bit." Yun Dusu has to remind him that Joseon's soldiers fought well too, but the king is fixated on Ming's army and wants to collect "specialty goods" from around the nation to reward the Ming soldiers. Of course there aren't enough men available to do any such thing...so Seonjo says the citizen militia troops should do it! Oh that's awful...but he won't take no for an answer. Then Yun Dusu starts harping again about giving the Joseon soldiers their independence from Ming's command. But Seonjo is hardly going to agree to that, not after recapturing Pyongyang. He tells Yun and Jeong Cheol flat-out to stay out of it.
Hanyang: Ukita Hideie gets the news about Pyongyang falling. He sends Ishida home to report it. He and the generals decide they need to summon their forces from around the country, even if it means giving up territorial gains, to keep Hanyang from falling like Pyongyang did.
Evening in Pyongyang: A celebratory banquet for the Ming and Joseon generals. Li Rusong is presiding. Ryu isn't there and Li wonders "Is it because I scolded him?" Laughs at that. Then Zu Chengxun comments that Ryu is from a small country and "you can't compare the spirit of our vast land to this small country." Cheap shots and ungracious behavior; surprising because it sure seemed like Li was better than that..
While the banquet is going on, Ryu is working, and listening to Lee Deokhyeong complain about the Ming generals having a banquet when they could be advancing to Hanyang and taking it before the enemy could organize better. But when word arrives that Li wants Ryu to attend the banquet, Ryu decides to go, and see if maybe he can persuade Li to go to war. So he and Lee go there. Li tells Ryu he wants Ryu to pour him a drink...and not just pour it, but to first bow twice facing north, and then pour the drink while kneeling on the ground! To show deference to a "higher nation." That's a gesture reserved for kings and emperors and it provokes an argument, understandably...and besides, it would be humiliating for Ryu to do such a thing. But Ryu smiles and says he'll do it. Takes off his official's robe and says he'll pour the drink to show gratitude as an ordinary citizen, not as an official who's shunning his own king. He kneels and bows, and reaches for the wine..."Never mind. Forget it. I was just kidding." Li laughs, and then praises Ryu. "You are a truly loyal servant." Ryu stands up and immediately begins reciting a poem. It's a poem about going to war; a poem that Li himself wrote and Ryu has memorized. "The spirit of war is absorbed in my bones"...that kind of thing. Li is stunned, and when Ryu nudges him just the tiniest bit, Li answers, "I'll go to war. I'll go right now if I have to. I just hesitated because I was worried about military rations." Ryu assures him that he'll have all the rations he needs to retake Hanyang...and with that, Li says the banquet's over and they'll advance tomorrow. A stunning takeover of the situation by Ryu that, afterwards, moves Lee Deokhyeong to tears. "It's all right," Ryu says with a smile. "My pride isn't important when we have to save our country." He chuckles a little...but we can see in his face that this wasn't easy for him, not at all.
Next day: Yep, the Ming army is heading south, as promised. And Ryu is making arrangements for rations, as promised. Or at least trying to; not going to be easy. He has to go to the crown prince with a proposal to tax the crop yields of the royal relatives (who apparently own huge amounts of agricultural land) and Confucian academies (ditto) to get additional rations. Gwanghae is perfectly fine with the idea and orders it implemented. But Ryu thinks that still won't be enough, so he has another idea: offer a title to people who give rations, a title called "gongmyeongcheop." It's a sort of status symbol but carries no actual benefits. Seems like a perfectly harmless thing to hand out for an important commodity but Gwanghae reacts negatively, like you'd expect from a a royal: "It's not proper. There are rules for the high and the low." And he's worried about the upper classes resisting it. But Ryu says Give the upper classes titles too, if they give rations; we should reward everyone who helps out. Gwanghae sighs, but he goes along with it.
Big surprise, Consort Kim hears about Ryu's plan and is already in front of Seonjo complaining about it. But Seonjo has already thought this out, as in, thought it out for his own benefit. And he's all for it. Not just because it will solve the rations problem, but because he's decided it's time to get rid of the dual-government setup. And if influential people get angry with the crown prince, then it will just be that much easier to relieve the increasingly popular crown prince of his authority. Wow, very shrewd.
Now here are some of the royal relatives meeting with Gwanghae. They're not unwilling to help but they think they're being taken for granted and tell him that. Gwanghae is patient at first, explaining the need and telling them they'll be rewarded later, but they push him enough that he really lets them have it. You'll obey my order, he says loudly enough and angrily enough that they can only fidget silently. They leave and grumble to each other about how the government needs to be reunited, so that the ancestral tablets can be under the king's care again. They're going to write appeals to the king.
Appeals written and received. Seonjo is discussing them with Yun Dusu and Jeong Cheol. Well, not really discussing, he's telling them that he's made the decision to reunite the government in Pyeongju. Yun and Jeong don't want it to happen and try to protest, but Seonjo has a stronger argument now that Pyongyang is free again, and he's made his decision anyway.
The crown prince receives the royal order reuniting the government. He's angry and vents to Jeong Tak about it, but Jeong agrees with Seonjo that a dual government isn't necessary any more. And then gets to the heart of Gwanghae's anger: "Are you afraid he will remove you from the position of crown prince now?" Suddenly the prince remembers that he didn't want to be crown prince, ever, and that the job he offered to do is done. And now he's all smiles, like a weight is off his shoulders. Don't be discouraged, Jeong says, sensing a new perspective from a prince who had a taste of authority and liked it. "An opportunity will naturally come in time." Gwanghae waves that off; says he's not the oldest son and the king doesn't favor him either. He feigns relief but we can see some disappointment in his face too.
Later, Ryu apologies to Gwanghae for pushing the tax issue that led to the reunification. But Gwanghae knows it would have happened eventually anyway so he hardly will blame Ryu for it, especially since it got those badly needed rations.
Gyeongju: "Good job." The entire government reunites and the king enters the city. Sees Gwanghae and his officials standing at the roadside to welcome him, and offers them a scant two words of praise. Sheesh. Then we see him tending to the ancestral tablets for the first time since the government was divided. Narration tells us that Gwanghae earned significant public trust during the seven months of divided government and that "Seonjo was on his guard against him."
Japan: It's been a while! Where's Hideyoshi? We're not sure...and Maeda's not sure either. Oh wait, Maeda finds him burning off some stress by hacking up a few subordinates. Yuck. Maeda politely but firmly asks him to stop. Hideyoshi is furious about all of the war setbacks; says "I'm going to kill everybody who lost!" Fine, Maeda says; I'll fight you. And he does, for a minute, with a spear. He's bigger than Hideyoshi, and more importantly he's in control of his emotions right now, which Hideyoshi isn't. When Hideyoshi swings wildly and falls down, Maeda grabs the blade of his sword with his bare hand and says, "Just send me to Joseon."
Oh dear. The Ming army was headed for Hanyang but now they've stopped at the Imjin River. Li Rusong says they can't cross it until winter when the river freezes. No boats, no bridge, and he says it's too far and too difficult to go upriver to a point where the river can be crossed on foot. It's a bad situation because if they wait until winter it will just give the enemy more time to organize and prepare. So Ryu shocks everyone. "We will build you a bridge," he says. And then glares at Li and says he'd better advance to Hanyang immediately if it gets built.
The second part, well...Kim Gyeongro's unit is in position to hit the fleeing enemy head-on and capture Konishi. But then Kim tells them all to withdraw! Seriously? He says that Ryu has no authority here since it isn't Pyeongan province, and that Li Rusong didn't want an ambush and he can't disregard Li's instructions. Wow.
We see the Joseon and Ming troops enter Pyongyang to the delight of the locals, after a seven-month occupation and four days of battle. Narration tells us that this "turned the tables of the war."
Ryu is dumbfounded to learn what Kim Gyeongro did. He orders Kim's arrest. Kim is brought to him and a furious Ryu is just about to execute him personally, when Li Rusong shows up and pulls rank on Ryu, saving Kim's life literally at the last second. Li leads Kim away and even offers him a drink. All Ryu can do is throw down his sword in frustration.
Meanwhile...Konishi is furious. Understandably. And he's lost a lot of soldiers. Some went AWOL and others were left behind because they were too weak to continue. He's down to barely 6,000 out of his original 18,000. And more are going AWOL right there in front of him. At least it looks that way, maybe not...Incredibly, Konishi starts killing them! Himself! His own men. He kills three before So Yoshitoshi and Genso restrain him. Wow.
"We finally pushed the Japanese army south." Gwanghae gets the news about Pyongyang and is greatly heartened.
Seonjo gets the news too, but he's more selfish about it. "The soldiers of Ming are different. I can finally save face a bit." Yun Dusu has to remind him that Joseon's soldiers fought well too, but the king is fixated on Ming's army and wants to collect "specialty goods" from around the nation to reward the Ming soldiers. Of course there aren't enough men available to do any such thing...so Seonjo says the citizen militia troops should do it! Oh that's awful...but he won't take no for an answer. Then Yun Dusu starts harping again about giving the Joseon soldiers their independence from Ming's command. But Seonjo is hardly going to agree to that, not after recapturing Pyongyang. He tells Yun and Jeong Cheol flat-out to stay out of it.
Hanyang: Ukita Hideie gets the news about Pyongyang falling. He sends Ishida home to report it. He and the generals decide they need to summon their forces from around the country, even if it means giving up territorial gains, to keep Hanyang from falling like Pyongyang did.
Evening in Pyongyang: A celebratory banquet for the Ming and Joseon generals. Li Rusong is presiding. Ryu isn't there and Li wonders "Is it because I scolded him?" Laughs at that. Then Zu Chengxun comments that Ryu is from a small country and "you can't compare the spirit of our vast land to this small country." Cheap shots and ungracious behavior; surprising because it sure seemed like Li was better than that..
While the banquet is going on, Ryu is working, and listening to Lee Deokhyeong complain about the Ming generals having a banquet when they could be advancing to Hanyang and taking it before the enemy could organize better. But when word arrives that Li wants Ryu to attend the banquet, Ryu decides to go, and see if maybe he can persuade Li to go to war. So he and Lee go there. Li tells Ryu he wants Ryu to pour him a drink...and not just pour it, but to first bow twice facing north, and then pour the drink while kneeling on the ground! To show deference to a "higher nation." That's a gesture reserved for kings and emperors and it provokes an argument, understandably...and besides, it would be humiliating for Ryu to do such a thing. But Ryu smiles and says he'll do it. Takes off his official's robe and says he'll pour the drink to show gratitude as an ordinary citizen, not as an official who's shunning his own king. He kneels and bows, and reaches for the wine..."Never mind. Forget it. I was just kidding." Li laughs, and then praises Ryu. "You are a truly loyal servant." Ryu stands up and immediately begins reciting a poem. It's a poem about going to war; a poem that Li himself wrote and Ryu has memorized. "The spirit of war is absorbed in my bones"...that kind of thing. Li is stunned, and when Ryu nudges him just the tiniest bit, Li answers, "I'll go to war. I'll go right now if I have to. I just hesitated because I was worried about military rations." Ryu assures him that he'll have all the rations he needs to retake Hanyang...and with that, Li says the banquet's over and they'll advance tomorrow. A stunning takeover of the situation by Ryu that, afterwards, moves Lee Deokhyeong to tears. "It's all right," Ryu says with a smile. "My pride isn't important when we have to save our country." He chuckles a little...but we can see in his face that this wasn't easy for him, not at all.
Next day: Yep, the Ming army is heading south, as promised. And Ryu is making arrangements for rations, as promised. Or at least trying to; not going to be easy. He has to go to the crown prince with a proposal to tax the crop yields of the royal relatives (who apparently own huge amounts of agricultural land) and Confucian academies (ditto) to get additional rations. Gwanghae is perfectly fine with the idea and orders it implemented. But Ryu thinks that still won't be enough, so he has another idea: offer a title to people who give rations, a title called "gongmyeongcheop." It's a sort of status symbol but carries no actual benefits. Seems like a perfectly harmless thing to hand out for an important commodity but Gwanghae reacts negatively, like you'd expect from a a royal: "It's not proper. There are rules for the high and the low." And he's worried about the upper classes resisting it. But Ryu says Give the upper classes titles too, if they give rations; we should reward everyone who helps out. Gwanghae sighs, but he goes along with it.
Big surprise, Consort Kim hears about Ryu's plan and is already in front of Seonjo complaining about it. But Seonjo has already thought this out, as in, thought it out for his own benefit. And he's all for it. Not just because it will solve the rations problem, but because he's decided it's time to get rid of the dual-government setup. And if influential people get angry with the crown prince, then it will just be that much easier to relieve the increasingly popular crown prince of his authority. Wow, very shrewd.
Now here are some of the royal relatives meeting with Gwanghae. They're not unwilling to help but they think they're being taken for granted and tell him that. Gwanghae is patient at first, explaining the need and telling them they'll be rewarded later, but they push him enough that he really lets them have it. You'll obey my order, he says loudly enough and angrily enough that they can only fidget silently. They leave and grumble to each other about how the government needs to be reunited, so that the ancestral tablets can be under the king's care again. They're going to write appeals to the king.
Appeals written and received. Seonjo is discussing them with Yun Dusu and Jeong Cheol. Well, not really discussing, he's telling them that he's made the decision to reunite the government in Pyeongju. Yun and Jeong don't want it to happen and try to protest, but Seonjo has a stronger argument now that Pyongyang is free again, and he's made his decision anyway.
The crown prince receives the royal order reuniting the government. He's angry and vents to Jeong Tak about it, but Jeong agrees with Seonjo that a dual government isn't necessary any more. And then gets to the heart of Gwanghae's anger: "Are you afraid he will remove you from the position of crown prince now?" Suddenly the prince remembers that he didn't want to be crown prince, ever, and that the job he offered to do is done. And now he's all smiles, like a weight is off his shoulders. Don't be discouraged, Jeong says, sensing a new perspective from a prince who had a taste of authority and liked it. "An opportunity will naturally come in time." Gwanghae waves that off; says he's not the oldest son and the king doesn't favor him either. He feigns relief but we can see some disappointment in his face too.
Later, Ryu apologies to Gwanghae for pushing the tax issue that led to the reunification. But Gwanghae knows it would have happened eventually anyway so he hardly will blame Ryu for it, especially since it got those badly needed rations.
Gyeongju: "Good job." The entire government reunites and the king enters the city. Sees Gwanghae and his officials standing at the roadside to welcome him, and offers them a scant two words of praise. Sheesh. Then we see him tending to the ancestral tablets for the first time since the government was divided. Narration tells us that Gwanghae earned significant public trust during the seven months of divided government and that "Seonjo was on his guard against him."
Japan: It's been a while! Where's Hideyoshi? We're not sure...and Maeda's not sure either. Oh wait, Maeda finds him burning off some stress by hacking up a few subordinates. Yuck. Maeda politely but firmly asks him to stop. Hideyoshi is furious about all of the war setbacks; says "I'm going to kill everybody who lost!" Fine, Maeda says; I'll fight you. And he does, for a minute, with a spear. He's bigger than Hideyoshi, and more importantly he's in control of his emotions right now, which Hideyoshi isn't. When Hideyoshi swings wildly and falls down, Maeda grabs the blade of his sword with his bare hand and says, "Just send me to Joseon."
Oh dear. The Ming army was headed for Hanyang but now they've stopped at the Imjin River. Li Rusong says they can't cross it until winter when the river freezes. No boats, no bridge, and he says it's too far and too difficult to go upriver to a point where the river can be crossed on foot. It's a bad situation because if they wait until winter it will just give the enemy more time to organize and prepare. So Ryu shocks everyone. "We will build you a bridge," he says. And then glares at Li and says he'd better advance to Hanyang immediately if it gets built.