Post by ajk on May 26, 2009 12:54:09 GMT -5
A year has passed; it's now 993.
Somewhere in Manchuria: Sa Gamun and Sa Illa are leading a trade caravan. Nearby, we see a large, nasty-looking army on the march. And did we get a glimpse of Yelu Wuji, the eyepatch guy from the first two episodes? If so, this is a Khitan army. Sa Gamun and Sa Illa are informed of the army by a scout; they go check it out, and then Sa Illa quickly heads south, to Hwangju.
She informs Hunae. Yep, it was a Khitan army, heading south. It looks like they're headed to attack Goryeo. Hunae asks Sa Illa to return and do reconnaissance. She's going south to inform Seo Hui.
At the capital: Gamchan has come to see Seo Hui. We learn that he's been with his friend Prince Gyeongjuwon for the entire year since we saw the prince sent into exile. He asks Seo Hui for an audience with the king.
We see the king, queen, Hunae’s son Prince Gaeryeong, the king’s and queen’s daughter Jeong, and Seol's baby, now one year old and named Prince Daeryang. All together like a real family, and appearing to be very happy together. The king is asked to receive a visitor....
He goes to the throne room and receives Gamchan, rather coldly. Gamchan has come to deliver a letter from Gyeongjuwon. The letter asks, tactfully but passionately, for the king to send the baby Daeryang to his father. "Please take pity on this disconsolate man who lost his love and longs for his child." Gamchan reminds the king that Gyeongjuwon never had any political ambitions and vows to spend the rest of his life in exile. The king appears moved by the letter, and he looks like he'll at least consider the request.
Later, outside, Gamchan tells Seo Hui that if the king grants the request, he'll take the baby back to Gyeongjuwon himself and will move his own family (so I guess he has a family now; he didn't before) to Sasu and live alongside Gyeongjuwon. As they talk, Gang Jo approaches them.
Seo Hui and Gamchan go to visit Hunae, now at Sungdeok Palace in the capital. She informs them of the Khitan army sighting. Bad news, Seo says; the country is defenseless--no army and no weapons. And he can believe the report, because Khitan has the motive to attack, namely, Goryeo's favoritism towards Song China over Khitan.
The king and queen are talking. Munhwa tells her husband that it's best to send the child to his father; it's what the child's mother would have wanted. The king can't help but agree, and he admits that hearing the child calling him "dada" weighs on his heart. Won't it be hard on you, he asks her, to let him go? Yes, she says, but she has Gaeryeong so she'll be okay. (This is very big of her. She really has turned out to be a person of good character and principles. We've seen it time after time.)
Narration tells us that historical records speak of the baby prince tugging on king's robe and calling him "father," and this moving the king’s heart and prompting him to send the boy to his father Gyeongjuwon.
Regular state meeting of king and ministers: The king is informed of the report about the Khitan army. There's been no official confirmation of this, though; this was only a third-party report that came from Hunae. The Shillans proceed to argue that the source of the information is not credible, and that this must be some sort of plot by Hunae for revenge! (We're surprised, or at least I am, to see Kim Wonsoong standing among the Shillans like nothing ever happened. Amazing that an entire year has gone by and he hasn't been rubbed out by somebody.) The king asks Choe Ryang for his opinion; Choe responds that the chances of a Khitan attack on Goryeo are "very low" and that he too, is suspicious of the source. Seo Hui begs the king to at least send reconnaissance to check the report out, but the Shillans argue that doing so will only provoke Khitan (which makes absolutely no sense). The king agrees; no reconnaissance and "the matter is closed." The Shillans nod approvingly--all except Wonsoong.
Narration tells us of historical records of reports from northwestern Jurchen tribes of the Khitan army and its planned invasion of Goryeo.
Seo Hui tells Hunae that and Gamchan that he's going to talk to the minister of defense about sending reconnaissance secretly. Then Gamchan gets Hunae's attention, pointing out that her son Gaeryeong is at risk because in war it's customary to take the defeated entity's prince as a hostage. Seo asks Gamchan to stick around and contribute his superior knowledge of the northern lands. Gamchan is reticent, because the king booted him out of office.
Wonsoong is discussing the Khitan report with his subordinates Jo Sun and Jo Du. Jo Sun takes it seriously, because of his own experiences in the territory. And Wonsoong believes it too. (Which is apparently why he didn’t react as the other Shillans did in the state meeting.) In fact, he starts planning for the consequences right then and there. He instructs his subordinates to start converting their stock of trading goods into grain, because food prices are the first to rise when war breaks out. And buy gold, he also instructs; it's a portable commodity, and if war breaks out, they may leave the country for safer pastures--Song China! Cold-blooded, but shrewd.
Hunae tells Chiyang and Gang Jo, We're going to have to fight the Khitans ourselves. Not a full-scale battle, but some sort of delaying action to buy time for the capital to mobilize. They don't have much manpower, though; what can they possibly do?
Gang Jo tells Yi Sulhwa that Hunae wants her to stay behind, to take care of the palace and to escort princess Sun south to the capital for her safety. Sulhwa isn't happy about being left out, but she accepts. Then she asks about Sa Gamun! Is he okay? Well, well, well, so he’s gotten into her head after all.
Sa Gamun is with his Jurchen tribal leaders. They're trying to figure out what to do. It's a predicament; Do we fight or wait it out? What if Goryeo gets taken over by Khitan?
Hunae and Gang Jo have managed to assemble a hundred or so soldiers. They've all written their wills and are prepared to die for their country. They depart and head north.
Back at the capital: A messenger runs into the palace. Then we see a state meeting, at which Yi Gyeomui is informing the king that the Khitan report has been confirmed. He dispatched reconnaissance after all, at Seo Hui's urging, and it confirms that a huge Khitan army is moving south. Seo Hui urges the king to dispatch whatever small forces they can scrape up to face the army. They can't ask Song for help, because they had turned Song down when Song asked Goryeo for help in the past. We have to fight this one, Seo says. (Now wait just a minute. The king learns that ministers have completely disobeyed his order not to send reconnaissance north, and that other ministers put the county in greater danger by dismissing the original report. And he doesn't even mention any of this?)
Narration tells of historical record that the king sent Park Yangyu, Seo Hui and Choe Ryang to lead Goryean troops to the northern front.
Nighttime: Hunae and her group are in the field, watching. The Khitans haven't crossed the Yalu River yet; it takes time for an army that large to cross and it will take some preparation.
We get a glimpse of the Khitan camp. Yikes, it's a big one. It's a place called Guyeon Fort (although it doesn’t look like any kind of permanent structure is there). They've prepared a flotilla of pontoons to get across the Yalu. The Goryeans consider this. How about setting fire to the pontoons? That will delay them. The Goryeans have brought something new that they've purchased from Song: "fierce fire oil," a/k/a petroleum (black gold, Texas tea). It's expensive but will do the trick, if they can get to the camp to use it. So they all cover up in black clothes, hop onto a couple of rafts, and quietly approach.
We then see a repeat of the raid shown in Episode 1, where the Goryean squad manages to set fire to the Khitan camp and the pontoons and docks set up for the river crossing. And we recognize Yelu Wuji in the middle of it all, by the way. So here and now, the series has finally come all the way forward from the 14-year jump backward in time that occurred in Episode 2. (Presumably we'll now see more repeating of material from the firs two episodes, up to the point where Hunae jumps of the high bluff into the river and drifts unconscious.)
Around a Khitan table: Khitan General Xiao Sunning leads Yelu Dilie and other Khitan leaders in a drink. "The pontoon bridge is ready for us to cross," he says. Their plan is to crush Goryeo and then advance on Song China. And they're eager to get started. Then a subordinate, Yelu Chu, enters: "We have a problem, sir." They go to check it out and find the camp ablaze. Wuji tells them it was a group of Goryeans, and they used petroleum. Sunning proves master of the understatement: "Darn it! We're getting off to a lousy start!" Build another set of pontoons immediately, he angrily orders.
Park Yangyu, Seo Hui, and Choe Ryang report to the king before departing. Park will be taking the main force to the Northern Protectorate and cut off the Khitans' western advance route; Seo Hui will lead forces north to Taeju and seal off the eastern route, and Choe will lead troops to Seogyeong, the northern capital, to serve as the last line of defense. The king will accompany Choe's troops. Then Seo asks the king to restore Gamchan to military service, because of his knowledge of the north.
The king, now wearing his armor, says goodbye to the queen and Prince Gaeryeong. "You are the leader of Gaegyeong in my absence," he tells the boy. Munhwa is understandably frightened; Come back safely, she pleads.
Hunae's group is crossing a barren, rocky territory. Hunae thinks the Goryeo army needs more time than the three days that the fire earned, and wants to lay an ambush for the Khitans. Chiyang adamantly opposes the idea: "This is foolish--all of us could be killed." But she insists, and he'll obey her, reluctantly. After traveling a ways, they find themselves in a rocky ravine. With high walls on both sides, it looks like an ideal spot to ambush an army from above. They decide this will be their spot. But uh-oh...somebody's beaten them to it. From atop the walls we see an armed company, arrows loaded up and bows drawn. And suddenly, it's the Goryeans who are getting ambushed by Khitans. Arrows fly in large numbers, several barely missing Hunae. Her men are being killed around her. The Goryeans dismount and scramble for cover, but then the Khitans charge into the ravine and the battle is on. A lot of hand-to-hand combat follows (some good and some ridiculous). The Goryeans are by far the better fighters, and despite being outnumbered they manage to take control and kill the entire Khitan unit. Their own casualties: seven dead, six injured, not nearly as bad as it looked. They conclude that this must have been an advance force of scouts, conducting reconnaissance for the main Khitan army. And in a way, this is good news, because it means that if the scouts came here, the main army is probably headed this way. (A lot to complain about here. A recon unit simply isn't going to start a battle like this; it's not their job. And why would the Khitans give up their positional advantage and charge into the ravine at all? And the biggest one: if the whole unit is killed and no one returns, what possible logic leads to the conclusion that the army will head in the same direction? Ugh. Very stupid.)
Back at the Yalu: All of the pontoons are ready, except for the supply pontoon. We'll head out immediately, Xiao orders. But which route to take--east or west? He's told that the east route scouts have returned with a favorable report, but that the west route scouts haven't returned at all yet. So he chooses the east route. Yelu Dilie protests, because the west route is faster and easier. Xiao calls him an idiot, and explains that speed isn't an issue because of the supply pontoon not being ready yet, and that the east route will likely be a surprise to the Goryeans anyway, so it’s the better choice. Sound thinking.
Narration tells us that the west route had been used three times in past invasions.
We see the Goryeans waiting in ambush atop the ravine. A messenger arrives and tells them the Khitans took the east route. OOPS. (Serves you right, braniacs.) And they're too far from the east route to get to it in time.
We see the Khitans on the move south. And Hunae's group is on the move too...but to where?
Somewhere in Manchuria: Sa Gamun and Sa Illa are leading a trade caravan. Nearby, we see a large, nasty-looking army on the march. And did we get a glimpse of Yelu Wuji, the eyepatch guy from the first two episodes? If so, this is a Khitan army. Sa Gamun and Sa Illa are informed of the army by a scout; they go check it out, and then Sa Illa quickly heads south, to Hwangju.
She informs Hunae. Yep, it was a Khitan army, heading south. It looks like they're headed to attack Goryeo. Hunae asks Sa Illa to return and do reconnaissance. She's going south to inform Seo Hui.
At the capital: Gamchan has come to see Seo Hui. We learn that he's been with his friend Prince Gyeongjuwon for the entire year since we saw the prince sent into exile. He asks Seo Hui for an audience with the king.
We see the king, queen, Hunae’s son Prince Gaeryeong, the king’s and queen’s daughter Jeong, and Seol's baby, now one year old and named Prince Daeryang. All together like a real family, and appearing to be very happy together. The king is asked to receive a visitor....
He goes to the throne room and receives Gamchan, rather coldly. Gamchan has come to deliver a letter from Gyeongjuwon. The letter asks, tactfully but passionately, for the king to send the baby Daeryang to his father. "Please take pity on this disconsolate man who lost his love and longs for his child." Gamchan reminds the king that Gyeongjuwon never had any political ambitions and vows to spend the rest of his life in exile. The king appears moved by the letter, and he looks like he'll at least consider the request.
Later, outside, Gamchan tells Seo Hui that if the king grants the request, he'll take the baby back to Gyeongjuwon himself and will move his own family (so I guess he has a family now; he didn't before) to Sasu and live alongside Gyeongjuwon. As they talk, Gang Jo approaches them.
Seo Hui and Gamchan go to visit Hunae, now at Sungdeok Palace in the capital. She informs them of the Khitan army sighting. Bad news, Seo says; the country is defenseless--no army and no weapons. And he can believe the report, because Khitan has the motive to attack, namely, Goryeo's favoritism towards Song China over Khitan.
The king and queen are talking. Munhwa tells her husband that it's best to send the child to his father; it's what the child's mother would have wanted. The king can't help but agree, and he admits that hearing the child calling him "dada" weighs on his heart. Won't it be hard on you, he asks her, to let him go? Yes, she says, but she has Gaeryeong so she'll be okay. (This is very big of her. She really has turned out to be a person of good character and principles. We've seen it time after time.)
Narration tells us that historical records speak of the baby prince tugging on king's robe and calling him "father," and this moving the king’s heart and prompting him to send the boy to his father Gyeongjuwon.
Regular state meeting of king and ministers: The king is informed of the report about the Khitan army. There's been no official confirmation of this, though; this was only a third-party report that came from Hunae. The Shillans proceed to argue that the source of the information is not credible, and that this must be some sort of plot by Hunae for revenge! (We're surprised, or at least I am, to see Kim Wonsoong standing among the Shillans like nothing ever happened. Amazing that an entire year has gone by and he hasn't been rubbed out by somebody.) The king asks Choe Ryang for his opinion; Choe responds that the chances of a Khitan attack on Goryeo are "very low" and that he too, is suspicious of the source. Seo Hui begs the king to at least send reconnaissance to check the report out, but the Shillans argue that doing so will only provoke Khitan (which makes absolutely no sense). The king agrees; no reconnaissance and "the matter is closed." The Shillans nod approvingly--all except Wonsoong.
Narration tells us of historical records of reports from northwestern Jurchen tribes of the Khitan army and its planned invasion of Goryeo.
Seo Hui tells Hunae that and Gamchan that he's going to talk to the minister of defense about sending reconnaissance secretly. Then Gamchan gets Hunae's attention, pointing out that her son Gaeryeong is at risk because in war it's customary to take the defeated entity's prince as a hostage. Seo asks Gamchan to stick around and contribute his superior knowledge of the northern lands. Gamchan is reticent, because the king booted him out of office.
Wonsoong is discussing the Khitan report with his subordinates Jo Sun and Jo Du. Jo Sun takes it seriously, because of his own experiences in the territory. And Wonsoong believes it too. (Which is apparently why he didn’t react as the other Shillans did in the state meeting.) In fact, he starts planning for the consequences right then and there. He instructs his subordinates to start converting their stock of trading goods into grain, because food prices are the first to rise when war breaks out. And buy gold, he also instructs; it's a portable commodity, and if war breaks out, they may leave the country for safer pastures--Song China! Cold-blooded, but shrewd.
Hunae tells Chiyang and Gang Jo, We're going to have to fight the Khitans ourselves. Not a full-scale battle, but some sort of delaying action to buy time for the capital to mobilize. They don't have much manpower, though; what can they possibly do?
Gang Jo tells Yi Sulhwa that Hunae wants her to stay behind, to take care of the palace and to escort princess Sun south to the capital for her safety. Sulhwa isn't happy about being left out, but she accepts. Then she asks about Sa Gamun! Is he okay? Well, well, well, so he’s gotten into her head after all.
Sa Gamun is with his Jurchen tribal leaders. They're trying to figure out what to do. It's a predicament; Do we fight or wait it out? What if Goryeo gets taken over by Khitan?
Hunae and Gang Jo have managed to assemble a hundred or so soldiers. They've all written their wills and are prepared to die for their country. They depart and head north.
Back at the capital: A messenger runs into the palace. Then we see a state meeting, at which Yi Gyeomui is informing the king that the Khitan report has been confirmed. He dispatched reconnaissance after all, at Seo Hui's urging, and it confirms that a huge Khitan army is moving south. Seo Hui urges the king to dispatch whatever small forces they can scrape up to face the army. They can't ask Song for help, because they had turned Song down when Song asked Goryeo for help in the past. We have to fight this one, Seo says. (Now wait just a minute. The king learns that ministers have completely disobeyed his order not to send reconnaissance north, and that other ministers put the county in greater danger by dismissing the original report. And he doesn't even mention any of this?)
Narration tells of historical record that the king sent Park Yangyu, Seo Hui and Choe Ryang to lead Goryean troops to the northern front.
Nighttime: Hunae and her group are in the field, watching. The Khitans haven't crossed the Yalu River yet; it takes time for an army that large to cross and it will take some preparation.
We get a glimpse of the Khitan camp. Yikes, it's a big one. It's a place called Guyeon Fort (although it doesn’t look like any kind of permanent structure is there). They've prepared a flotilla of pontoons to get across the Yalu. The Goryeans consider this. How about setting fire to the pontoons? That will delay them. The Goryeans have brought something new that they've purchased from Song: "fierce fire oil," a/k/a petroleum (black gold, Texas tea). It's expensive but will do the trick, if they can get to the camp to use it. So they all cover up in black clothes, hop onto a couple of rafts, and quietly approach.
We then see a repeat of the raid shown in Episode 1, where the Goryean squad manages to set fire to the Khitan camp and the pontoons and docks set up for the river crossing. And we recognize Yelu Wuji in the middle of it all, by the way. So here and now, the series has finally come all the way forward from the 14-year jump backward in time that occurred in Episode 2. (Presumably we'll now see more repeating of material from the firs two episodes, up to the point where Hunae jumps of the high bluff into the river and drifts unconscious.)
Around a Khitan table: Khitan General Xiao Sunning leads Yelu Dilie and other Khitan leaders in a drink. "The pontoon bridge is ready for us to cross," he says. Their plan is to crush Goryeo and then advance on Song China. And they're eager to get started. Then a subordinate, Yelu Chu, enters: "We have a problem, sir." They go to check it out and find the camp ablaze. Wuji tells them it was a group of Goryeans, and they used petroleum. Sunning proves master of the understatement: "Darn it! We're getting off to a lousy start!" Build another set of pontoons immediately, he angrily orders.
Park Yangyu, Seo Hui, and Choe Ryang report to the king before departing. Park will be taking the main force to the Northern Protectorate and cut off the Khitans' western advance route; Seo Hui will lead forces north to Taeju and seal off the eastern route, and Choe will lead troops to Seogyeong, the northern capital, to serve as the last line of defense. The king will accompany Choe's troops. Then Seo asks the king to restore Gamchan to military service, because of his knowledge of the north.
The king, now wearing his armor, says goodbye to the queen and Prince Gaeryeong. "You are the leader of Gaegyeong in my absence," he tells the boy. Munhwa is understandably frightened; Come back safely, she pleads.
Hunae's group is crossing a barren, rocky territory. Hunae thinks the Goryeo army needs more time than the three days that the fire earned, and wants to lay an ambush for the Khitans. Chiyang adamantly opposes the idea: "This is foolish--all of us could be killed." But she insists, and he'll obey her, reluctantly. After traveling a ways, they find themselves in a rocky ravine. With high walls on both sides, it looks like an ideal spot to ambush an army from above. They decide this will be their spot. But uh-oh...somebody's beaten them to it. From atop the walls we see an armed company, arrows loaded up and bows drawn. And suddenly, it's the Goryeans who are getting ambushed by Khitans. Arrows fly in large numbers, several barely missing Hunae. Her men are being killed around her. The Goryeans dismount and scramble for cover, but then the Khitans charge into the ravine and the battle is on. A lot of hand-to-hand combat follows (some good and some ridiculous). The Goryeans are by far the better fighters, and despite being outnumbered they manage to take control and kill the entire Khitan unit. Their own casualties: seven dead, six injured, not nearly as bad as it looked. They conclude that this must have been an advance force of scouts, conducting reconnaissance for the main Khitan army. And in a way, this is good news, because it means that if the scouts came here, the main army is probably headed this way. (A lot to complain about here. A recon unit simply isn't going to start a battle like this; it's not their job. And why would the Khitans give up their positional advantage and charge into the ravine at all? And the biggest one: if the whole unit is killed and no one returns, what possible logic leads to the conclusion that the army will head in the same direction? Ugh. Very stupid.)
Back at the Yalu: All of the pontoons are ready, except for the supply pontoon. We'll head out immediately, Xiao orders. But which route to take--east or west? He's told that the east route scouts have returned with a favorable report, but that the west route scouts haven't returned at all yet. So he chooses the east route. Yelu Dilie protests, because the west route is faster and easier. Xiao calls him an idiot, and explains that speed isn't an issue because of the supply pontoon not being ready yet, and that the east route will likely be a surprise to the Goryeans anyway, so it’s the better choice. Sound thinking.
Narration tells us that the west route had been used three times in past invasions.
We see the Goryeans waiting in ambush atop the ravine. A messenger arrives and tells them the Khitans took the east route. OOPS. (Serves you right, braniacs.) And they're too far from the east route to get to it in time.
We see the Khitans on the move south. And Hunae's group is on the move too...but to where?