Post by ajk on Jul 14, 2009 12:06:30 GMT -5
"I'm afraid I can't let you see him," Queen Munhwa tells Hunae. She explains that it's to protect him from emotional agitation and asks her to please wait a month. Hunae asks, Can I at least see my son?
Prince Gaeryeong is told by Yi Hyunoon (Still this guy is around the prince?) that his mother is in the palace. He runs outside...
...and to the throne room, where he finds his mother. They hug, both in tears as Munhwa watches them--looking just a little bit hurt.
Gang Jo is welcomed back by Dae Dosu and his subordinates, who we learn have been reassigned and are to be in charge of security at the royal palace.
Hunae wants to take her son to Sungdeok Palace for the night. But Munhwa refuses to allow it; it's too great a security risk for him to leave the royal palace complex. But the boy gives her a load of grief about it, and Hunae asks her, You don't still think I should be kept out of his life, do you? Well what can she say (even though Hunae is being selfish).
Ministers are discussing the Khitans' desire for the king to marry the Khitan consort. Right now he's too ill for any such thing, but ultimately, what to do? A debate about whether or not this is worth risking another war with Khitan.
"I guess all that love and effort was useless." Escort Yun is whining to the queen about Prince Gaeryeong's increasingly standoffish attitude towards Munhwa. Maybe we should just tell everybody about his epilepsy, she says. Munhwa wants no part of her pettiness--"Watch you tongue if you don't want it cut off!"--but we can see that she's troubled.
Hunae tells Gang Jo and Chiyang of the king's illness. So do they need to overthrow him? Gang Jo wants to wait; there may be no need to. But Chiyang wants to be aggressive and go so far as to take him out with poison! "He will be deposed, not killed," Hunae instructs. Chiyang is concerned that leaving him alive will be trouble, but she's not going to kill her own brother and that's final. Fortunately, with Dae Dosu and his men now the palace guards, getting muscle on their side will be easier for a deposal. And Gang Jo says he'll now accept that military job he was offered; it will get him influence within the palace.
Kim Wonsoong isn't happy about the consort development, what with his daughter being the queen. But he didn't oppose it! He reasons that with the king's illness, the king is not going to be producing an heir with her, and if he (Wonsoong) is able to establish a good relationship with her, it might get him trading privileges with Khitan (which he badly needs now that his Song trade has evaporated). Always calculating.
Hunae is with Seo Hui, Yi Jibaek, Yi Gyeomui and Gamchan. They wonder if the queen has an ulterior motive, and they encourage Hunae to try again to see the king.
The king is sleeping, with physicians and attendants watching over him. Munhwa goes to visit him, and in her thoughts we hear her confess her fear that Hunae will create trouble. Please get well, she wishes.
Hunae has a bad dream about Empress Dowager Xiao executing her and conquering Goryeo. She wakes up screaming. Gaeryeong has been sleeping next to her. Agitated, she tells her son, You must become a powerful king and not submit to anyone. I will, he promises. (Yeah, he'll be a real strong king, still sleeping in mommy's bed at that age.) Xiao sure has gotten into her head.
Hunae goes back to Munhwa and asks again to see the king, assuring her that she'll be careful not to upset him. But Munhwa again says No, it's too risky, and you can talk to the physician about it if you don't believe me. But Hunae insists--"I do not need your permission to see my brother." Which pisses off Munhwa, who has to remind Hunae that she's the acting head of state and what she says goes. And tells Hunae to leave (good for her).
Hunae goes to the king's quarters anyway. Dae Dosu's subordinates are guarding the building and they reluctantly refuse her request for admission, but then Dosu shows up and orders them to let her in. "I will assume responsibility," he says, and in she goes. (I thought Dosu was smarter than this.)
The king is sleeping, with the physician attending to him. Hunae enters, orders the physician away and the two are left alone. She looks at him, empress dowager Xiao's words ringing in her ears about how she has to be "thoroughly unfeeling" to get what she wants. Just then the king awakens, weak and with labored breathing. In disbelief, her reaches his hand out to her and thanks her "for coming into my dream." No dream, she tells him; I made it back alive. You half expect his eyes to roll back and his heart to stop, but he sits up and hugs her, tears in his eyes.
Yi Hyunoon goes to Munhwa and tattles on Dae Dosu. Munhwa explodes.
"I've done you so wrong in the past," Sungjong tells Hunae, and now you're the only family I have left. And you were right about everything. Please forgive me, he asks her. She smiles and tells him, "I'm going to be obedient to you from now on [and] focus on building womanly virtues. I've defied you too long. Will you forgive me?" He's overcome with emotion, not realizing that this is a complete load of crap. But then he stats feeling nauseous and pained, his breathing begins to labor again, and the physician runs in and tells her she must leave now. But there's just one more thing she must talk to him about....
Shangjin city, Liao: ED Xiao and PM Han are wondering how Hunae is doing. Han decides he'll send one of his men to Goryeo with Chiyang's trade caravan, for extra surveillance. But he'll be a spy risk, since his identity will be known. Still, they want to do what they can because Xiao doesn't trust Chiyang. "It's his catlike facial features that bother me," she says. (Another cat comment. She better knock that off.)
We see the consort-to-be Xiao Zanli being trained in martial arts, knife throwing, and poison concocting, and they're also showing her some pictures of, uh, well....
"Even lessons in sexual techniques? This is most pathetic," emperor Shengzong complains. "Our neighbors will think we're sending a princess as a political pawn" (after losing the war). He's still angry with his mother for going this route rather than firing up the war machine again. Yelu Wuji is with him and says, Why don't you terminate the regency? You're 24 years old now, after all. But Shengzong won't hear a word of it: "You have no idea what my mother is capable of." So he's scared of her too.
Munhwa is attending to her husband. The king expresses regret for not being able to tell Hunae about her son's epilepsy. Then he instructs Munhwa to appoint Gang Jo as a general in the royal guards; this obviously was Hunae's request earlier. We can see that Munhwa doesn't like the sound of this.
Hunae, Chiyang and Gang Jo plot some more. Get the guards on our side, she tells Gang Jo; I'll handle the officials. And we'll need a backup army. Hyangbi will be sent to the Balhaean village about this, and Chiyang can round up some Jurchens too. Chiyang still wants to eliminate the king, which will be a lot simpler, but Hunae still says no. So it will be necessary to incite the public to rise up against the king. How? They decide to start by publicizing Hunae's accomplishments during and after the war. This will be a closely-knit project; only a few of the Myeongbok Palace people will be involved: Sa Gamun, Sa Illa, Hyangbi and maybe Yi Sulhwa. But not Yi Jujeong, Hunae says; "Steward Yi talks without thinking, so let's keep him out of it." Hmmm....
Munhwa discusses the Gang Jo request with Choe Sum. It's the king's order so she can't deny it, "but it makes me nervous." And with those new guards on top of it...We have to be active in opposing Hunae, she tells Choe. Choe says, you must first remove her supporters from the royal court. Meaning, a personnel reshuffling. We can trump up some reason for doing so, Choe says; the bigger problem is the young prince. He must be deposed and removed from the palace. Munhwa angrily refuses—-she raised him, after all--but he puts it to her straight: "Is he obedient to you?" Still, she says, we can't depose him because there's no other suitable heir. Yes there is, Choe says: Prince Gyeongjuwon! There's a name we haven't heard in a while. Munhwa rightly points out that Gyeongjuwon is in exile and never wanted any part of politics. Yes, Choe replies, but he has a son. Wow, where is this all going.
Munhwa tells Seo Hui that she wants to send him to the northern territories to build new forts and strengthen the border. Seo is getting up there and this is tough job for an older guy, but he agrees to it. Gamchan is to go with him and assist. And she also announces some personnel changes:
--Yi Gyeomui becomes associate royal undersecretary, with Choe Sum replacing him as minister of defense
--Yi Jibaek becomes superintendent of the Office of Diplomatic Reception, with Kim Shimun replacing him as minister of punishment
--Kim Wonsoong, Seol Shinyu, and Yi Yang are all reinstated to their former positions in the ministries of revenue, punishment and defense, respectively.
The northerners protest these moves, not just because it hurts them but because they contradict what the king just recently did to reward those who handled the war matters correctly and punish those who did not. But she insists that this all has the king's approval, and accuses the ministers of causing the king's collapse in the first place, So stop making trouble and be glad you still have positions at all. (Ugh, she's really getting backed into a bad corner.)
Hunae gets the news about all this. "She's a ferocious beast in disguise!" She thinks this is bad because they'll need Seo Hui and Gamchan here in the capital to support their overthrow. But Chiyang disagrees; he thinks the two would be too loyal to the king to support any such thing. He suggests starting with Yi Gyeomui and Yi Jibaek. Gyeomui is a soldier and Jibaek is "stupid," he says, so they'll be more likely to support us.
Seo Hui and Gang Gamchan realize that another factional fight is brewing. They doubt that the king approved the personnel changes; someone must be behind Munhwa, steering this. But Seo says, Aren't we dong the same thing--using Hunae to try to ascend Gaeryeong to the throne? I'm tired of politics, Seo says; let's just go north and worry about strengthening the border.
Narration tells us that Seo Hui spent the next three years in the northern border territory, building forts that became "solid buffers" against future invasion attempts. "Seo Hui was in fact the biggest hero in the Goryeo-Khitan wars, with his amazing foresight."
Sa Illa returns to her Jurchen tribal village. She brings her chief the good news about Chiyang's safe return. And she has a message: "It's time for the dragon to awake."
Balhaean village: Military training is taking place. Hyangbi arrives with a request from Gang Jo for 500 trained soldiers, no questions asked.
Seogyeong marketplace: Sa Gamun goes to see his old trader friend. Hunae's exploits are the talk of the town, it seems, and like these things often do, have spun into silliness (she made the Khitan emperor wet his pants; she was shot ten times and lived; she may be a man). But people are amazed by her exploits. Then the trader reminds Sa Gamun that he had asked for a cut of Myeongbok Palace's trading business. Sa Gamun tells him, I remember, and not only that, if you help me and it all works out, you can come and live there too. He asks, do you know the Gaegyeong marketplace as well as the Seogyoung marketplace? Of course I do, the trader says.
Palace guards are being trained under the supervision of Dae Dosu and his men. Then the new general Gang Jo arrives and is welcomed. I'm ordered to take half of your army, he tells Dosu, and he has the written order directing it. Dosu accepts this graciously. He asks Yu Bang he's to assist Gang Jo; Yu is reluctant because he's served with Dae for so long, but since they're all together in the palace anyway, he agrees. And then Yi Hyunoon steps forward and grovels for Gang Jo to accept him (if only to keep himself from getting pushed around any more by Dae's subordinates). Gang Jo recognizes him from Anyoongjin Fort, and glares....
In a white room, Chiyang is talking to a man whose face is covered by a hat. "I'm glad you're back with us," the man says; "You're so much like your departed father." "The time is coming to redress his grief," Chiyang responds. "I will slaughter his family and render his blood extinct. So do not take your eyes off him of him for a moment." Not sure who Chiyang is referring to, but the other man is: "I understand, master." The man lifts his head up and we see his face; he's identified as Mun Inwui.
Yi Jibaek and Yi Gyeomui are with Hunae, complaining about the latest developments. They're not happy, understandably: "My lady, something must be done. We can't take this lying down." She sits there smiling innocently, and asks them, "What would you like me to do?" Meet with the king, Jibaek says, and tell him that Prince Gaeryeong should be running things, not the queen. But Hunae tells them, The king trusts the queen completely and isn't likely to listen to me. And then she drops the bomb: "Would you support me if I forcibly sought to bring Prince Gaeryeong to the throne?"
Prince Gaeryeong is told by Yi Hyunoon (Still this guy is around the prince?) that his mother is in the palace. He runs outside...
...and to the throne room, where he finds his mother. They hug, both in tears as Munhwa watches them--looking just a little bit hurt.
Gang Jo is welcomed back by Dae Dosu and his subordinates, who we learn have been reassigned and are to be in charge of security at the royal palace.
Hunae wants to take her son to Sungdeok Palace for the night. But Munhwa refuses to allow it; it's too great a security risk for him to leave the royal palace complex. But the boy gives her a load of grief about it, and Hunae asks her, You don't still think I should be kept out of his life, do you? Well what can she say (even though Hunae is being selfish).
Ministers are discussing the Khitans' desire for the king to marry the Khitan consort. Right now he's too ill for any such thing, but ultimately, what to do? A debate about whether or not this is worth risking another war with Khitan.
"I guess all that love and effort was useless." Escort Yun is whining to the queen about Prince Gaeryeong's increasingly standoffish attitude towards Munhwa. Maybe we should just tell everybody about his epilepsy, she says. Munhwa wants no part of her pettiness--"Watch you tongue if you don't want it cut off!"--but we can see that she's troubled.
Hunae tells Gang Jo and Chiyang of the king's illness. So do they need to overthrow him? Gang Jo wants to wait; there may be no need to. But Chiyang wants to be aggressive and go so far as to take him out with poison! "He will be deposed, not killed," Hunae instructs. Chiyang is concerned that leaving him alive will be trouble, but she's not going to kill her own brother and that's final. Fortunately, with Dae Dosu and his men now the palace guards, getting muscle on their side will be easier for a deposal. And Gang Jo says he'll now accept that military job he was offered; it will get him influence within the palace.
Kim Wonsoong isn't happy about the consort development, what with his daughter being the queen. But he didn't oppose it! He reasons that with the king's illness, the king is not going to be producing an heir with her, and if he (Wonsoong) is able to establish a good relationship with her, it might get him trading privileges with Khitan (which he badly needs now that his Song trade has evaporated). Always calculating.
Hunae is with Seo Hui, Yi Jibaek, Yi Gyeomui and Gamchan. They wonder if the queen has an ulterior motive, and they encourage Hunae to try again to see the king.
The king is sleeping, with physicians and attendants watching over him. Munhwa goes to visit him, and in her thoughts we hear her confess her fear that Hunae will create trouble. Please get well, she wishes.
Hunae has a bad dream about Empress Dowager Xiao executing her and conquering Goryeo. She wakes up screaming. Gaeryeong has been sleeping next to her. Agitated, she tells her son, You must become a powerful king and not submit to anyone. I will, he promises. (Yeah, he'll be a real strong king, still sleeping in mommy's bed at that age.) Xiao sure has gotten into her head.
Hunae goes back to Munhwa and asks again to see the king, assuring her that she'll be careful not to upset him. But Munhwa again says No, it's too risky, and you can talk to the physician about it if you don't believe me. But Hunae insists--"I do not need your permission to see my brother." Which pisses off Munhwa, who has to remind Hunae that she's the acting head of state and what she says goes. And tells Hunae to leave (good for her).
Hunae goes to the king's quarters anyway. Dae Dosu's subordinates are guarding the building and they reluctantly refuse her request for admission, but then Dosu shows up and orders them to let her in. "I will assume responsibility," he says, and in she goes. (I thought Dosu was smarter than this.)
The king is sleeping, with the physician attending to him. Hunae enters, orders the physician away and the two are left alone. She looks at him, empress dowager Xiao's words ringing in her ears about how she has to be "thoroughly unfeeling" to get what she wants. Just then the king awakens, weak and with labored breathing. In disbelief, her reaches his hand out to her and thanks her "for coming into my dream." No dream, she tells him; I made it back alive. You half expect his eyes to roll back and his heart to stop, but he sits up and hugs her, tears in his eyes.
Yi Hyunoon goes to Munhwa and tattles on Dae Dosu. Munhwa explodes.
"I've done you so wrong in the past," Sungjong tells Hunae, and now you're the only family I have left. And you were right about everything. Please forgive me, he asks her. She smiles and tells him, "I'm going to be obedient to you from now on [and] focus on building womanly virtues. I've defied you too long. Will you forgive me?" He's overcome with emotion, not realizing that this is a complete load of crap. But then he stats feeling nauseous and pained, his breathing begins to labor again, and the physician runs in and tells her she must leave now. But there's just one more thing she must talk to him about....
Shangjin city, Liao: ED Xiao and PM Han are wondering how Hunae is doing. Han decides he'll send one of his men to Goryeo with Chiyang's trade caravan, for extra surveillance. But he'll be a spy risk, since his identity will be known. Still, they want to do what they can because Xiao doesn't trust Chiyang. "It's his catlike facial features that bother me," she says. (Another cat comment. She better knock that off.)
We see the consort-to-be Xiao Zanli being trained in martial arts, knife throwing, and poison concocting, and they're also showing her some pictures of, uh, well....
"Even lessons in sexual techniques? This is most pathetic," emperor Shengzong complains. "Our neighbors will think we're sending a princess as a political pawn" (after losing the war). He's still angry with his mother for going this route rather than firing up the war machine again. Yelu Wuji is with him and says, Why don't you terminate the regency? You're 24 years old now, after all. But Shengzong won't hear a word of it: "You have no idea what my mother is capable of." So he's scared of her too.
Munhwa is attending to her husband. The king expresses regret for not being able to tell Hunae about her son's epilepsy. Then he instructs Munhwa to appoint Gang Jo as a general in the royal guards; this obviously was Hunae's request earlier. We can see that Munhwa doesn't like the sound of this.
Hunae, Chiyang and Gang Jo plot some more. Get the guards on our side, she tells Gang Jo; I'll handle the officials. And we'll need a backup army. Hyangbi will be sent to the Balhaean village about this, and Chiyang can round up some Jurchens too. Chiyang still wants to eliminate the king, which will be a lot simpler, but Hunae still says no. So it will be necessary to incite the public to rise up against the king. How? They decide to start by publicizing Hunae's accomplishments during and after the war. This will be a closely-knit project; only a few of the Myeongbok Palace people will be involved: Sa Gamun, Sa Illa, Hyangbi and maybe Yi Sulhwa. But not Yi Jujeong, Hunae says; "Steward Yi talks without thinking, so let's keep him out of it." Hmmm....
Munhwa discusses the Gang Jo request with Choe Sum. It's the king's order so she can't deny it, "but it makes me nervous." And with those new guards on top of it...We have to be active in opposing Hunae, she tells Choe. Choe says, you must first remove her supporters from the royal court. Meaning, a personnel reshuffling. We can trump up some reason for doing so, Choe says; the bigger problem is the young prince. He must be deposed and removed from the palace. Munhwa angrily refuses—-she raised him, after all--but he puts it to her straight: "Is he obedient to you?" Still, she says, we can't depose him because there's no other suitable heir. Yes there is, Choe says: Prince Gyeongjuwon! There's a name we haven't heard in a while. Munhwa rightly points out that Gyeongjuwon is in exile and never wanted any part of politics. Yes, Choe replies, but he has a son. Wow, where is this all going.
Munhwa tells Seo Hui that she wants to send him to the northern territories to build new forts and strengthen the border. Seo is getting up there and this is tough job for an older guy, but he agrees to it. Gamchan is to go with him and assist. And she also announces some personnel changes:
--Yi Gyeomui becomes associate royal undersecretary, with Choe Sum replacing him as minister of defense
--Yi Jibaek becomes superintendent of the Office of Diplomatic Reception, with Kim Shimun replacing him as minister of punishment
--Kim Wonsoong, Seol Shinyu, and Yi Yang are all reinstated to their former positions in the ministries of revenue, punishment and defense, respectively.
The northerners protest these moves, not just because it hurts them but because they contradict what the king just recently did to reward those who handled the war matters correctly and punish those who did not. But she insists that this all has the king's approval, and accuses the ministers of causing the king's collapse in the first place, So stop making trouble and be glad you still have positions at all. (Ugh, she's really getting backed into a bad corner.)
Hunae gets the news about all this. "She's a ferocious beast in disguise!" She thinks this is bad because they'll need Seo Hui and Gamchan here in the capital to support their overthrow. But Chiyang disagrees; he thinks the two would be too loyal to the king to support any such thing. He suggests starting with Yi Gyeomui and Yi Jibaek. Gyeomui is a soldier and Jibaek is "stupid," he says, so they'll be more likely to support us.
Seo Hui and Gang Gamchan realize that another factional fight is brewing. They doubt that the king approved the personnel changes; someone must be behind Munhwa, steering this. But Seo says, Aren't we dong the same thing--using Hunae to try to ascend Gaeryeong to the throne? I'm tired of politics, Seo says; let's just go north and worry about strengthening the border.
Narration tells us that Seo Hui spent the next three years in the northern border territory, building forts that became "solid buffers" against future invasion attempts. "Seo Hui was in fact the biggest hero in the Goryeo-Khitan wars, with his amazing foresight."
Sa Illa returns to her Jurchen tribal village. She brings her chief the good news about Chiyang's safe return. And she has a message: "It's time for the dragon to awake."
Balhaean village: Military training is taking place. Hyangbi arrives with a request from Gang Jo for 500 trained soldiers, no questions asked.
Seogyeong marketplace: Sa Gamun goes to see his old trader friend. Hunae's exploits are the talk of the town, it seems, and like these things often do, have spun into silliness (she made the Khitan emperor wet his pants; she was shot ten times and lived; she may be a man). But people are amazed by her exploits. Then the trader reminds Sa Gamun that he had asked for a cut of Myeongbok Palace's trading business. Sa Gamun tells him, I remember, and not only that, if you help me and it all works out, you can come and live there too. He asks, do you know the Gaegyeong marketplace as well as the Seogyoung marketplace? Of course I do, the trader says.
Palace guards are being trained under the supervision of Dae Dosu and his men. Then the new general Gang Jo arrives and is welcomed. I'm ordered to take half of your army, he tells Dosu, and he has the written order directing it. Dosu accepts this graciously. He asks Yu Bang he's to assist Gang Jo; Yu is reluctant because he's served with Dae for so long, but since they're all together in the palace anyway, he agrees. And then Yi Hyunoon steps forward and grovels for Gang Jo to accept him (if only to keep himself from getting pushed around any more by Dae's subordinates). Gang Jo recognizes him from Anyoongjin Fort, and glares....
In a white room, Chiyang is talking to a man whose face is covered by a hat. "I'm glad you're back with us," the man says; "You're so much like your departed father." "The time is coming to redress his grief," Chiyang responds. "I will slaughter his family and render his blood extinct. So do not take your eyes off him of him for a moment." Not sure who Chiyang is referring to, but the other man is: "I understand, master." The man lifts his head up and we see his face; he's identified as Mun Inwui.
Yi Jibaek and Yi Gyeomui are with Hunae, complaining about the latest developments. They're not happy, understandably: "My lady, something must be done. We can't take this lying down." She sits there smiling innocently, and asks them, "What would you like me to do?" Meet with the king, Jibaek says, and tell him that Prince Gaeryeong should be running things, not the queen. But Hunae tells them, The king trusts the queen completely and isn't likely to listen to me. And then she drops the bomb: "Would you support me if I forcibly sought to bring Prince Gaeryeong to the throne?"