Post by ajk on Mar 9, 2014 22:28:43 GMT -5
Jeong Dojeon is sneaking his way around the nearest port, to get on a boat out of town. No-name girl comes running into the port, looking for him...finds him and tries to stop him from leaving. He knows now about the "atonement payment" now, from a conversation he overheard, and he's angry at her. But she lets him leave without making trouble, and the boat departs. Unfortunately in running around she dropped the note he had left, the note saying he'd be back before the next monthly check. And it just so happens that a local official finds it...
...and the guy shows up the next day to do a spot-check. But guess what, JD came back. As soon as the official leaves, he collapses, apparently from exhaustion. He had jumped into the river. (So I guess he got cold feet!)
Choi Yeong admits defeat; goes to Lee In Im and tells him to stop the interrogations and he won't oppose punishment of the scholars. Choi says he'll go fight the pirates in Yanggwangdo now...but guess what, it's not necessary because Im Gyeongmi just sent a report of a huge victory by the Goryeans.
"He didn't even draw his sword once. He wrote a report as if he did all the fighting. Im Gyeongmi that rotten little wretch." Now we're looking at the battlefield. The aftermath. Lee Seonggye and Lee Jiran are there (so they're fighting the pirates after all!) and Jiran is seriously angry. Later, Im decides to return the army home, since the victory was won. Lee disagrees, arguing that there will be remnants, possibly many remnants, in the area and the army needs to remain and cut off the inland roads. But if course Im just gets angry at the perceived lecturing and threatens Lee with death.
JD is offering a promissory note to that traveler guy--we learn he's a shaman. "Don't you know it's against the law to exchange a person for money?" And says Take the note because you won't take the girl while I'm here. He refuses and leaves angrily, but without the girl. But now the girl tells JD she wants to go with the shaman because it's the only way to pay the debt and she doesn't want it hanging over her.
The army returns home just in time to see all of the scholars learn their punishments. Choi Yeong is reading a royal order. Jeong Mongju and several others are sentenced to exile! Others are flogged. As narration tells us, this was the beginning of a long unchallenged period of control by Lee In Im. "Goryeo's fate fell deeper into a pit."
Im Gyeongmi receives formal commendation and reward from an ecstatic King Wu for his smashing "victory." Lee suggests putting him in charge of "Sunwibu" (not sure what that is; it's some agency). That's Choi Yeong's job right now, but Lee says Choi is too burdened and too old to do it. Just another power-grab.
Lee Seonggye goes to Choi and asks for a follow-up expedition, fearful that pirate remnants are still out there. It leads to an angry confrontation later between Choi and Im Gyeongmi. Later Im goes to Lee In Im and complains privately about it. But Lee says, "What's important now is, are there remnants or not. Are there?" And Im reluctantly has to admit that it's possible. Wow, Lee gets so mad he clears the desk and breaks everything on it! "It was a perfect chance to take control of public order from Choi Yeong" and Im may have botched it up.
Lee's Seonggye's wife is angry that Im was richly rewarded for the victory and her husband got nothing. She wants to go see Lee In Im about it. "You just sit there and smile. I'll take care of everything." She has big plans for her husband: "I want you to rule the Supreme Council and court one day. Is that too much?" Then Lee In Im summons him...but not to reward him; to scold him for making trouble about a follow-up expedition. "I will overlook this matter, so return home." But Seonggye insists that there will be remnants and even offers to take his own soldiers and deal with them himself. Lee In Im insists that there are no remnants left and tells him to get out of town by tomorrow. And when Seonggye continues to challenge him on it, he tells him, Get on our knees right now or you'll end like Jeong Mongju did (beaten and exiled). An incredibly tense moment...broken up by an underling running in to report pirate remnants in Jeolla! Seonggye doesn't bat an eye. "Let me go."
A local army group marches into Sojaedong village and forcibly carries off all of the men it can catch, to be forced to fight the Japanese pirates. An ugly scene; they're just dragging away any warm body they can find. Some, including the village head and Cheonbok, manage to run away and hide. That evening, it gets worse: the government official from earlier shows up with news that the shaman has filed a fraud lawsuit against the girl. And he has a letter for JD, I think from his wife, which tells him about the awful things happening in the capital...and that Park Sangchung died. Even worse, JD was about to send his friend Mongju a letter to ask for a loan so no-name girl can pay her debt. No chance of that now. The girl's father tells her to go to the shaman before things get even worse. It breaks his heart to say it, but "Do you really think the magistrate will take our side?" JD is disgusted with him, but there simply are no options left.
Next morning: The shaman has come to claim his new "spiritual daughter." JD finally admits that "This wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me." But she's grateful to him for teaching and enlightening her. "I'm not afraid at all right now," she says, and we can see she isn't. She has one last favor: "I'd like a name. Will you give me a name?" He calls her Yangji, which means "A kind character that a person is born with." Nice. The whole village shows up to see the girl off. They all walk to the main road, and the shaman and the girl turn to leave...and an arrow flies in and strikes the shaman dead on the spot! What the....Good grief--Japanese pirates! Everyone turns to run, and another arrow strikes Yangji's father in the back.
...and the guy shows up the next day to do a spot-check. But guess what, JD came back. As soon as the official leaves, he collapses, apparently from exhaustion. He had jumped into the river. (So I guess he got cold feet!)
Choi Yeong admits defeat; goes to Lee In Im and tells him to stop the interrogations and he won't oppose punishment of the scholars. Choi says he'll go fight the pirates in Yanggwangdo now...but guess what, it's not necessary because Im Gyeongmi just sent a report of a huge victory by the Goryeans.
"He didn't even draw his sword once. He wrote a report as if he did all the fighting. Im Gyeongmi that rotten little wretch." Now we're looking at the battlefield. The aftermath. Lee Seonggye and Lee Jiran are there (so they're fighting the pirates after all!) and Jiran is seriously angry. Later, Im decides to return the army home, since the victory was won. Lee disagrees, arguing that there will be remnants, possibly many remnants, in the area and the army needs to remain and cut off the inland roads. But if course Im just gets angry at the perceived lecturing and threatens Lee with death.
JD is offering a promissory note to that traveler guy--we learn he's a shaman. "Don't you know it's against the law to exchange a person for money?" And says Take the note because you won't take the girl while I'm here. He refuses and leaves angrily, but without the girl. But now the girl tells JD she wants to go with the shaman because it's the only way to pay the debt and she doesn't want it hanging over her.
The army returns home just in time to see all of the scholars learn their punishments. Choi Yeong is reading a royal order. Jeong Mongju and several others are sentenced to exile! Others are flogged. As narration tells us, this was the beginning of a long unchallenged period of control by Lee In Im. "Goryeo's fate fell deeper into a pit."
Im Gyeongmi receives formal commendation and reward from an ecstatic King Wu for his smashing "victory." Lee suggests putting him in charge of "Sunwibu" (not sure what that is; it's some agency). That's Choi Yeong's job right now, but Lee says Choi is too burdened and too old to do it. Just another power-grab.
Lee Seonggye goes to Choi and asks for a follow-up expedition, fearful that pirate remnants are still out there. It leads to an angry confrontation later between Choi and Im Gyeongmi. Later Im goes to Lee In Im and complains privately about it. But Lee says, "What's important now is, are there remnants or not. Are there?" And Im reluctantly has to admit that it's possible. Wow, Lee gets so mad he clears the desk and breaks everything on it! "It was a perfect chance to take control of public order from Choi Yeong" and Im may have botched it up.
Lee's Seonggye's wife is angry that Im was richly rewarded for the victory and her husband got nothing. She wants to go see Lee In Im about it. "You just sit there and smile. I'll take care of everything." She has big plans for her husband: "I want you to rule the Supreme Council and court one day. Is that too much?" Then Lee In Im summons him...but not to reward him; to scold him for making trouble about a follow-up expedition. "I will overlook this matter, so return home." But Seonggye insists that there will be remnants and even offers to take his own soldiers and deal with them himself. Lee In Im insists that there are no remnants left and tells him to get out of town by tomorrow. And when Seonggye continues to challenge him on it, he tells him, Get on our knees right now or you'll end like Jeong Mongju did (beaten and exiled). An incredibly tense moment...broken up by an underling running in to report pirate remnants in Jeolla! Seonggye doesn't bat an eye. "Let me go."
A local army group marches into Sojaedong village and forcibly carries off all of the men it can catch, to be forced to fight the Japanese pirates. An ugly scene; they're just dragging away any warm body they can find. Some, including the village head and Cheonbok, manage to run away and hide. That evening, it gets worse: the government official from earlier shows up with news that the shaman has filed a fraud lawsuit against the girl. And he has a letter for JD, I think from his wife, which tells him about the awful things happening in the capital...and that Park Sangchung died. Even worse, JD was about to send his friend Mongju a letter to ask for a loan so no-name girl can pay her debt. No chance of that now. The girl's father tells her to go to the shaman before things get even worse. It breaks his heart to say it, but "Do you really think the magistrate will take our side?" JD is disgusted with him, but there simply are no options left.
Next morning: The shaman has come to claim his new "spiritual daughter." JD finally admits that "This wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me." But she's grateful to him for teaching and enlightening her. "I'm not afraid at all right now," she says, and we can see she isn't. She has one last favor: "I'd like a name. Will you give me a name?" He calls her Yangji, which means "A kind character that a person is born with." Nice. The whole village shows up to see the girl off. They all walk to the main road, and the shaman and the girl turn to leave...and an arrow flies in and strikes the shaman dead on the spot! What the....Good grief--Japanese pirates! Everyone turns to run, and another arrow strikes Yangji's father in the back.