Post by ajk on Mar 24, 2015 0:11:13 GMT -5
Bigyeokjincheonnoe is the name of a new weapon being developed in Joseon. Out of concern for how Sakadou knows of it, and what else he might know, he's temporarily spared and put back in jail. Later, hoping for court protection so he can avoid death, Sakadou starts talking. Says he heard about the weapon from someone in Japan who said he was going to Joseon as a spy to obtain the plans for it.
A long sequence of searching for the spy, culminating in a very clumsy but ultimately successful pursuit and killing of the spy and several cohorts as they were just about to reach the coastline. Not completely successful--Joseon wanted the spy taken alive--but they did manage to retrieve the backpacks that the group was carrying, and in one backpack were the plans for the weapon.
The plans are brought back to King Seonjo, who worries that Japan could have knowledge of any number of other Joseon military secrets. And we learn that there are quite a few spies running around the country; apparently Sakadou provided a lot of information about that. The Westerners want Ryu Seongyeong to take responsibility for the spies (as personnel minister). Ryu makes up his mind to resign and return to his home area of Andong to rest...but then he's called to the palace and Seonjo tells him that he's decided to send envoys to Japan! Not to seek foreign relations--he makes that clear--but "for the safety of our people." And he outright refuses Ryu's offer to resign.
Japanese military camp: Word arrives of a rebellion at Odawara Castle. Spirited debate about how to handle it: a quick strike, which Kato wants, or a more measured seige, which Konishi favors. Hideyoshi agrees with Konishi and gives him 50,000 soldiers for the task. But that doesn't mean he trusts Konishi more. In fact, when Konishi leaves, Hideyoshi tells Kato he doesn't believe that Konishi has abandoned his Catholic faith as Konishi told him he had. (Hideyoshi had asked him to do so.) So is Konishi not trustworthy? Should he be killed? Not yet, at least: his family knows Joseon well from a family trading business, so obviously that knowledge may prove very helpful. "Let it go until he's useless," Hideyoshi tells Kato. But Konishi clearly knows something is up. "My lord, it won't go your way," he says to himself.
Evening: The Westerners are dispirited over the decision to send envoys. And they worry that the king is getting smarter about controlling the court rather than being controlled by them. "He's going to rule his own way?" Yeah, imagine that...They fear they won't be able to carry out their preferred policies because the king is using Lee Sanhae and Ryu as a check against them. Well of course he is. "They have to be removed," Song Ikpil says matter-of-factly. The meeting ends and Song Ikpil--who's of slave status, remember--leaves Jeong Cheol and heads into the night. But someone's watching....
State council meeting: Lots of arguing before the king about who's responsible for the spy problem and who should be punished for it. And pretty soon everybody is posturing and saying they'll resign their posts! They're all just playing politics, of course...but it's all weighing on Seonjo so heavily that afterwards he has some sort of attack. We've seen him grab his chest a couple of times before, but now he grabs his chest and head and looks to be in serious distress. Physicians arrive and have to give him a sedative and put him to bed, to his family's concern and frustration.
Ryu is still talking about stepping down...but Lee argues that with the king trying to get control over the Westerners, either of them stepping down would only embolden the Westerners to act more aggressively. Ryu isn't swayed, so then Lee tells him that if he needs to stay to make sure the envoys are sent to Japan.
An exhausted-looking but calmer Seonjo is told by his head eunuch--who we learn was the person watching the group of Westerners break up the previous night--that "there was a schemer with" Jeong Cheol. A schemer? Seonjo seems to know who that might be...
...yes he does. Song Ikpil is arrested!
Word of the arrest flies through the palace. And there's astonishment that the arrest wasn't the result of an appeal, but rather was a secret royal order. And now there's a realization that all of those Easterners who were killed or exiled, they were framed by Song--he was the mastermind behind the whole thing, and they were all innocent. Lee Sanhae wonders if Seonjo was more than a spectator to all this. Did he deliberately allow the purge to happen in order to consolidate his power? "I'm beginning to fear his majesty."
Jeong Cheol is summoned to speak privately with the king. Seonjo confronts him about associating with Song Ikpil. Jeong tries to deny it but he's busted and he has to fess up. I'll forget about it, Seonjo says...if you'll work WITH Lee and Ryu instead of against them. What can Jeong say but yes. Oh and, about those envoys? "Do as you wish," Jeong volunteers. That's what Seonjo wants to hear. "You are a truly loyal servant," he offers with a smile.
So envoys will be sent; that's a done deal...but now, of course, the bickering starts about who will be chosen. Ultimately a delegation headed by one Easterner and one Westerner is settled on. Later we see the envoys receiving their formal written assignments from the king. This was on March 5, 1590, and as narration tells us, Ryu became Third State Councilor thereafter.
Evening: Ryu goes to visit Song Ipkil in jail. Song basically laughs in Ryu's face, telling him that the king is weak and "I stilmulated his desire" for power in order to purge the Easterners. But was Song playing the king or was the king playing Song?
A long sequence of searching for the spy, culminating in a very clumsy but ultimately successful pursuit and killing of the spy and several cohorts as they were just about to reach the coastline. Not completely successful--Joseon wanted the spy taken alive--but they did manage to retrieve the backpacks that the group was carrying, and in one backpack were the plans for the weapon.
The plans are brought back to King Seonjo, who worries that Japan could have knowledge of any number of other Joseon military secrets. And we learn that there are quite a few spies running around the country; apparently Sakadou provided a lot of information about that. The Westerners want Ryu Seongyeong to take responsibility for the spies (as personnel minister). Ryu makes up his mind to resign and return to his home area of Andong to rest...but then he's called to the palace and Seonjo tells him that he's decided to send envoys to Japan! Not to seek foreign relations--he makes that clear--but "for the safety of our people." And he outright refuses Ryu's offer to resign.
Japanese military camp: Word arrives of a rebellion at Odawara Castle. Spirited debate about how to handle it: a quick strike, which Kato wants, or a more measured seige, which Konishi favors. Hideyoshi agrees with Konishi and gives him 50,000 soldiers for the task. But that doesn't mean he trusts Konishi more. In fact, when Konishi leaves, Hideyoshi tells Kato he doesn't believe that Konishi has abandoned his Catholic faith as Konishi told him he had. (Hideyoshi had asked him to do so.) So is Konishi not trustworthy? Should he be killed? Not yet, at least: his family knows Joseon well from a family trading business, so obviously that knowledge may prove very helpful. "Let it go until he's useless," Hideyoshi tells Kato. But Konishi clearly knows something is up. "My lord, it won't go your way," he says to himself.
Evening: The Westerners are dispirited over the decision to send envoys. And they worry that the king is getting smarter about controlling the court rather than being controlled by them. "He's going to rule his own way?" Yeah, imagine that...They fear they won't be able to carry out their preferred policies because the king is using Lee Sanhae and Ryu as a check against them. Well of course he is. "They have to be removed," Song Ikpil says matter-of-factly. The meeting ends and Song Ikpil--who's of slave status, remember--leaves Jeong Cheol and heads into the night. But someone's watching....
State council meeting: Lots of arguing before the king about who's responsible for the spy problem and who should be punished for it. And pretty soon everybody is posturing and saying they'll resign their posts! They're all just playing politics, of course...but it's all weighing on Seonjo so heavily that afterwards he has some sort of attack. We've seen him grab his chest a couple of times before, but now he grabs his chest and head and looks to be in serious distress. Physicians arrive and have to give him a sedative and put him to bed, to his family's concern and frustration.
Ryu is still talking about stepping down...but Lee argues that with the king trying to get control over the Westerners, either of them stepping down would only embolden the Westerners to act more aggressively. Ryu isn't swayed, so then Lee tells him that if he needs to stay to make sure the envoys are sent to Japan.
An exhausted-looking but calmer Seonjo is told by his head eunuch--who we learn was the person watching the group of Westerners break up the previous night--that "there was a schemer with" Jeong Cheol. A schemer? Seonjo seems to know who that might be...
...yes he does. Song Ikpil is arrested!
Word of the arrest flies through the palace. And there's astonishment that the arrest wasn't the result of an appeal, but rather was a secret royal order. And now there's a realization that all of those Easterners who were killed or exiled, they were framed by Song--he was the mastermind behind the whole thing, and they were all innocent. Lee Sanhae wonders if Seonjo was more than a spectator to all this. Did he deliberately allow the purge to happen in order to consolidate his power? "I'm beginning to fear his majesty."
Jeong Cheol is summoned to speak privately with the king. Seonjo confronts him about associating with Song Ikpil. Jeong tries to deny it but he's busted and he has to fess up. I'll forget about it, Seonjo says...if you'll work WITH Lee and Ryu instead of against them. What can Jeong say but yes. Oh and, about those envoys? "Do as you wish," Jeong volunteers. That's what Seonjo wants to hear. "You are a truly loyal servant," he offers with a smile.
So envoys will be sent; that's a done deal...but now, of course, the bickering starts about who will be chosen. Ultimately a delegation headed by one Easterner and one Westerner is settled on. Later we see the envoys receiving their formal written assignments from the king. This was on March 5, 1590, and as narration tells us, Ryu became Third State Councilor thereafter.
Evening: Ryu goes to visit Song Ipkil in jail. Song basically laughs in Ryu's face, telling him that the king is weak and "I stilmulated his desire" for power in order to purge the Easterners. But was Song playing the king or was the king playing Song?
