Post by ajk on Jul 12, 2015 13:26:28 GMT -5
Uh-oh, Ryu didn't just pass out; he's got some sort of illness. Yun and Jeong tell Seonjo it's "an illness from repressed anger." Well that's understandable...Yun and Jeong also suspect that Ming and Wae made a deal, and tell Seonjo he should summon Song Yingchang and confront him. Wait, no need, Song just showed up. Incredibly, he asks why Joseon interfered with Ming's pursuit of the enemy! Says it was Joseon's responsibility to have boats ready for the pursuit and why didn't they think of it? Oh, and "I heard you are dividing Busan and giving it to Wae." And accuses Seonjo of trying to hold peace talks. It's total spin and posturing but Seonjo takes it seriously enough to deny it. Song says those are the rumors "at the Wae camp" and he had to ask about them. But once again, he manipulates the king to the point where Seonjo apologizes for the absence of boats at Hanyang. Incredible.
"How did they find the vessels that we hid?" We're at a meal that the Ming generals are eating together and it sounds (there may have been translation issues here, or material edited out) like there actually were 70 vessels in the river for them at one point. Either way...The generals are happy that they don't have to fight now. And then a few more demeaning comments about Ryu.
Ryu is asleep and he's having horrible dreams. But at least he wakes up now, and doesn't look too bad.
Later, a visitor arrives. Luo Shangzi, one of the Ming generals, is actually concerned enough about Ryu to pay a visit. Luo seems different from the others and this certainly is evidence of that. But it turns out, Ryu is gone. Illness or not, he wanted to survey the situation in the southern provinces so he left. Lee Deokhyeong is surprised too, and apologizes to Luo. But Luo isn't just here out of courtesy; he says he has something to tell Ryu. So he tells Lee...all about Song Yingchang ordering the Ming army not to pursue the enemy. "As a general of the reinforcements, I am embarrassed and truly sorry." Wow! Lee is gracious and appreciative, and Luo even tells him Song is seeking a truce and there won't be any fighting any time soon.
Seonjo is reading Yi Sunsin's request to use government property to help feed refugees. Yun and Jeong advise letting him do it, even though it's technically illegal. Seonjo considers how it might affect his own standing among the people--ugh--but there's no clear answer to that so he says he simply won't reply to the request for now. Then Lee Deokhyeong rushes in with the news about Song's lies. Seonjo goes bonkers and orders Song brought to him immediately...but Jeong says he'll never admit it and it would be better to report the situation directly to the Ming emperor. Yun says to send an envoy thanking the emperor for sending the reinforcements...and have the envoy carry a secret letter. Lee offers to go.
Days later (we're not sure how many), Lee and a delegation depart for Ming. But they've barely hit the road before Song and a Ming military unit stop them and search them. Song approved this trip but makes an excuse that he heard an enemy spy was in the party...but of course he suspects a secret letter and that's really what they're looking for. And they find it, hidden in Lee's belt.
Now Song is standing before Seonjo and holding the letter, and reading it aloud. Again he denies seeking a truce with the enemy. Feigns having his feelings hurt, and gets Seonjo to apologize and promise it wasn't happen again. But then he says Go ahead, send the envoy to tell the emperor "the Wae army was driven off this land." Which they haven't been! We'll report that after they're really gone, Jeong Cheol fires back. But Song threatens to retreat to Yodong with the army, and of course Seonjo panics and promises to send an envoy immediately to report the untruth. Song tells Jeong he should be the one to go.
Afterwards, Jeong says that if he can't take an official letter, at least he can tell the emperor himself. (No doubt Song is anticipating that too.)
Consort Kim isn't eating enough these days. Not only her son dying, but apparently the king is keeping away from her lately. "I have nobody to rely on," she tells her brother, and figures it's only a matter of time before she's tossed out of the court. And his brother brings news that Song Yingchang has secretly ordered some sort of investigation of Gwanghae--as in, to see if he's worthy of the throne. "We need to get on Gwanghae's side to survive," he tells her. She refuses to turn her back on Seonjo, but her brother says You don't have to, just get closer to Gwanghae as well.
So she prepares a meal and invites Song, to thank him for bringing the Ming army. And she also invites Gwanghae, who had no idea Song would be here as well. "Let's talk about the future of our country," she says with a smile. Gwanghae doesn't like it and says he'll leave, but Song pressures him into staying. So he sits down and promptly tells Song "If you have the leisure to dine like this, you should pursue the Wae army." Song smiles and says that the king is more concerned about getting revenge than ending the crisis (as in, fighting the enemy instead of finding a more peaceful solution) and suggests that "I think you and I can talk" and pours him a drink. Gwanghae doesn't deny wanting the throne someday and says out loud that he's upset about Seonjo dissolving the dual-government setup. Wow! But then catches himself and thinks the better of it. "Forget about what I said." Hmm...
Japan: Hideyoshi's looking a little better these days. Ming envoys have arrived and settlement negotiations have been concluded. A daughter of the Ming emperor will become a concubine; commercial trade will be opened up; and of course the land south of the Han River will become Japan's. Hideyoshi is very pleased; tells Maeda to release the two captured Joseon princes...but then adds "Have them take the other prince and a high-level minister as hostages." Huh? And he says he'll see the envoys personally in a month and a half. Make them wait a while..and give us time to take Jinjuseong. The defeat at Jinjuseong, he clearly has taken that one personally. Tells Maeda we have to capture it to prove ourselves "true samurai" and every living creature there needs to be slaughtered.
Busan: Kato confronts Konishi because the Joseon army (he says) is continuing to cause problems even with the truce. They're doing it without Ming's knowledge, Konishi fires back, and now they're sniping at each other again...but now here comes Ukita waiving Hideyoshi's personal order to attack Jinjuseong. "It's revenge for being defeated last time," he says, and it's to prepare for "a long-term conflict."
Evening: "How long are you going to try to deceive me?" Seonjo is pleading Song for help, but of course Song won't and uses Haengjusanseong as an excuse to be unhappy with Joseon. "If they are all slaughtered at Jinjuseong, it will be the same as being slaughtered by you." Ouch. "I can't discuss trust and loyalty with you. Can you call yourself the king of a country?" No wonder Joseon is in this mess, he adds, and says Maybe I won't discuss important matters with you any more. Song walks away and suddenly Seonjo's heart is having palpitations again.
Narration tells us that on June 19,1593 the Japanese attacked Jinjuseong and captured it after ten days. They killed 30,000 people in the fortress, and the Ming army did nothing before, during or afterwards.
Left Jeolla naval headquarters: We see Ryu and Yi Sunsin together for the first time. An interesting conversation. Ryu marvels at Yi serving in the military as a commoner. "You should have accepted some bribes and made some bribes," he says with a chuckle. I take after you, Yi answers, and Ryu laughs. They've known each other for 40 years. A rare peaceful moment for Ryu...shattered by arrival of news of the Jinjuseong defeat and the loss of 7,000 soldiers in addition to those 30,000 people.
Ryu ends up sitting at the water's edge and staring out to the ocean all night, despairing of the country 's future. But Yi takes him to those government fields that Yi wanted those refuges to tend...and look at that, there are the refugees tending to them. The king never answered Yi's request so Yi went ahead and set it all up anyway. Ryu hadn't heard of any of this and worries that Yi could be in trouble for misusing public funds by sharing crops. "Do they look like traitors?", Yi answers, turning to the refugees, and not only do they look like traitors, they're productive and visibly happy now--stark contrast to the shattered group that showed up at his headquarters. "We have to raise our country up again," he tells Ryu, and win back public sentiment. Then he hands Ryu an envelope containing something he wrote last night, and with that he bows and leaves to get back to work. Ryu opens the envelope and finds a sheet of paper with four characters on it: "re-create the country."
"How did they find the vessels that we hid?" We're at a meal that the Ming generals are eating together and it sounds (there may have been translation issues here, or material edited out) like there actually were 70 vessels in the river for them at one point. Either way...The generals are happy that they don't have to fight now. And then a few more demeaning comments about Ryu.
Ryu is asleep and he's having horrible dreams. But at least he wakes up now, and doesn't look too bad.
Later, a visitor arrives. Luo Shangzi, one of the Ming generals, is actually concerned enough about Ryu to pay a visit. Luo seems different from the others and this certainly is evidence of that. But it turns out, Ryu is gone. Illness or not, he wanted to survey the situation in the southern provinces so he left. Lee Deokhyeong is surprised too, and apologizes to Luo. But Luo isn't just here out of courtesy; he says he has something to tell Ryu. So he tells Lee...all about Song Yingchang ordering the Ming army not to pursue the enemy. "As a general of the reinforcements, I am embarrassed and truly sorry." Wow! Lee is gracious and appreciative, and Luo even tells him Song is seeking a truce and there won't be any fighting any time soon.
Seonjo is reading Yi Sunsin's request to use government property to help feed refugees. Yun and Jeong advise letting him do it, even though it's technically illegal. Seonjo considers how it might affect his own standing among the people--ugh--but there's no clear answer to that so he says he simply won't reply to the request for now. Then Lee Deokhyeong rushes in with the news about Song's lies. Seonjo goes bonkers and orders Song brought to him immediately...but Jeong says he'll never admit it and it would be better to report the situation directly to the Ming emperor. Yun says to send an envoy thanking the emperor for sending the reinforcements...and have the envoy carry a secret letter. Lee offers to go.
Days later (we're not sure how many), Lee and a delegation depart for Ming. But they've barely hit the road before Song and a Ming military unit stop them and search them. Song approved this trip but makes an excuse that he heard an enemy spy was in the party...but of course he suspects a secret letter and that's really what they're looking for. And they find it, hidden in Lee's belt.
Now Song is standing before Seonjo and holding the letter, and reading it aloud. Again he denies seeking a truce with the enemy. Feigns having his feelings hurt, and gets Seonjo to apologize and promise it wasn't happen again. But then he says Go ahead, send the envoy to tell the emperor "the Wae army was driven off this land." Which they haven't been! We'll report that after they're really gone, Jeong Cheol fires back. But Song threatens to retreat to Yodong with the army, and of course Seonjo panics and promises to send an envoy immediately to report the untruth. Song tells Jeong he should be the one to go.
Afterwards, Jeong says that if he can't take an official letter, at least he can tell the emperor himself. (No doubt Song is anticipating that too.)
Consort Kim isn't eating enough these days. Not only her son dying, but apparently the king is keeping away from her lately. "I have nobody to rely on," she tells her brother, and figures it's only a matter of time before she's tossed out of the court. And his brother brings news that Song Yingchang has secretly ordered some sort of investigation of Gwanghae--as in, to see if he's worthy of the throne. "We need to get on Gwanghae's side to survive," he tells her. She refuses to turn her back on Seonjo, but her brother says You don't have to, just get closer to Gwanghae as well.
So she prepares a meal and invites Song, to thank him for bringing the Ming army. And she also invites Gwanghae, who had no idea Song would be here as well. "Let's talk about the future of our country," she says with a smile. Gwanghae doesn't like it and says he'll leave, but Song pressures him into staying. So he sits down and promptly tells Song "If you have the leisure to dine like this, you should pursue the Wae army." Song smiles and says that the king is more concerned about getting revenge than ending the crisis (as in, fighting the enemy instead of finding a more peaceful solution) and suggests that "I think you and I can talk" and pours him a drink. Gwanghae doesn't deny wanting the throne someday and says out loud that he's upset about Seonjo dissolving the dual-government setup. Wow! But then catches himself and thinks the better of it. "Forget about what I said." Hmm...
Japan: Hideyoshi's looking a little better these days. Ming envoys have arrived and settlement negotiations have been concluded. A daughter of the Ming emperor will become a concubine; commercial trade will be opened up; and of course the land south of the Han River will become Japan's. Hideyoshi is very pleased; tells Maeda to release the two captured Joseon princes...but then adds "Have them take the other prince and a high-level minister as hostages." Huh? And he says he'll see the envoys personally in a month and a half. Make them wait a while..and give us time to take Jinjuseong. The defeat at Jinjuseong, he clearly has taken that one personally. Tells Maeda we have to capture it to prove ourselves "true samurai" and every living creature there needs to be slaughtered.
Busan: Kato confronts Konishi because the Joseon army (he says) is continuing to cause problems even with the truce. They're doing it without Ming's knowledge, Konishi fires back, and now they're sniping at each other again...but now here comes Ukita waiving Hideyoshi's personal order to attack Jinjuseong. "It's revenge for being defeated last time," he says, and it's to prepare for "a long-term conflict."
Evening: "How long are you going to try to deceive me?" Seonjo is pleading Song for help, but of course Song won't and uses Haengjusanseong as an excuse to be unhappy with Joseon. "If they are all slaughtered at Jinjuseong, it will be the same as being slaughtered by you." Ouch. "I can't discuss trust and loyalty with you. Can you call yourself the king of a country?" No wonder Joseon is in this mess, he adds, and says Maybe I won't discuss important matters with you any more. Song walks away and suddenly Seonjo's heart is having palpitations again.
Narration tells us that on June 19,1593 the Japanese attacked Jinjuseong and captured it after ten days. They killed 30,000 people in the fortress, and the Ming army did nothing before, during or afterwards.
Left Jeolla naval headquarters: We see Ryu and Yi Sunsin together for the first time. An interesting conversation. Ryu marvels at Yi serving in the military as a commoner. "You should have accepted some bribes and made some bribes," he says with a chuckle. I take after you, Yi answers, and Ryu laughs. They've known each other for 40 years. A rare peaceful moment for Ryu...shattered by arrival of news of the Jinjuseong defeat and the loss of 7,000 soldiers in addition to those 30,000 people.
Ryu ends up sitting at the water's edge and staring out to the ocean all night, despairing of the country 's future. But Yi takes him to those government fields that Yi wanted those refuges to tend...and look at that, there are the refugees tending to them. The king never answered Yi's request so Yi went ahead and set it all up anyway. Ryu hadn't heard of any of this and worries that Yi could be in trouble for misusing public funds by sharing crops. "Do they look like traitors?", Yi answers, turning to the refugees, and not only do they look like traitors, they're productive and visibly happy now--stark contrast to the shattered group that showed up at his headquarters. "We have to raise our country up again," he tells Ryu, and win back public sentiment. Then he hands Ryu an envelope containing something he wrote last night, and with that he bows and leaves to get back to work. Ryu opens the envelope and finds a sheet of paper with four characters on it: "re-create the country."
