Post by ajk on Jun 17, 2015 0:39:33 GMT -5
A beaming Lee Il leads his men to the crown prince and the officials; he brings them 20 enemy heads and 80 prisoners (so Ukita's escort was bigger than we saw). Everyone is thrilled. But wait--what about Ukita? You know, the enemy commander? The target of the whole operation? "Um...well, I almost had him, but he slipped away." What?!? Good grief! Everyone is flabbergasted. Apparently he got shot with an arrow but somehow he slipped away. Lee is utterly clueless about what a stupid move that was and what a total failure he made of the whole thing.
Gwanghae knows he's in trouble now; his father will be furious for attacking the enemy against the truce order. Ryu insists that he's going to take the blame for this to protect him.
Word reaches Uiju, and yep, Seonjo is furious. He's sure that the enemy will retaliate by immediately heading north to capture him right here (which would never happen but he's not thinking straight). Yun Dusu and Jeong Cheol once again stick up for the crown prince--"We have to fight and defeat them...he acted for the people"--but Seonjo says he wasn't trying to avoid fighting, only wanted to wait for reinforcements. And he's getting irritated with the two of them for constantly taking Gwanghae's side and disagreeing with him. But now wait...some sort of commotion outside...it's cheering people! What the heck? Seonjo goes outside to find Lee Il standing there in front of a happy crowd of Uiju citizens and a small group of the prisoners Lee caught. The citizens are cheering Seonjo for striking back and taking revenge against the enemy. Well this has gotten almost surreal. Seonjo steps forward and addresses them; it's part explanation for what's happened recently and part taking advantage of the situation for his own benefit. Very shrewdly political. Seonjo sincerely thanks Lee and rewards him with silver and a promotion.
Konishi's camp. Konishi has a response to what happened. And it isn't very Konishi-like: he starts killing Pyongyang citizens. Takes some outside of the fortress walls and kills a few himself. Knows that Joseon troops are watching him and shouts that he wants their prisoners returned or the killings will continue. (And yes, Joseon troops are covertly watching, but they're in no position to stop the killing at the moment.) Konishi goes back inside and we see Ukita. Ukita does have a shoulder wound but it hardly looks life-threatening. He's so mad, though, he threatens to actually dig up and desecrate the graves of former Joseon kings.
"He's going to kill our people?" Seonjo is stunned. And he learns that Ukita did indeed dig up royal graves. At that he passes clean out. Narration tells us that at least two gravesites were dug up and the coffins of Kings Seongjong and Jungjong and Queen Jeonghyeon were burned. We see soldiers setting fire to the coffins as Ukita looks on and laughs.
Seonjo is devastated; says he won't be able to face the former kings and says it's all Gwanghae's fault. People are trying to tend to him, physically and emotionally, but he throws them all out of the room. The next morning a royal physician informs the officials that they're not to bother him for a while.
Oh dear, and now another death: Lee Deokhyeong's wife. A villager from Lee's home town shows up in Uiju with the bad news. She was with a group who took refuge in a remote area but an enemy unit attacked them. She ended up jumping off a cliff and her body was never found. Understandably Lee is crushed. As we watch Lee return to his home town, narration tells us that over the seven-year course of the war, 1.8 million people died and 100,000 were taken prisoner. "Joseon was a land of corpses and blood."
Japan: Hideyoshi learns of the naval defeat at Busan and takes it pretty well, all things considered. And Maeda has an idea: he's identified a place called Jinjuseong. It's basically the gateway to Jeolla province from where the armies are now. If they can seize it, they'll be able to occupy Jeolla, where this year's harvest has been abundant, and also be within striking distance of Yi Sunsin's camp. It would solve their rations problem and their naval problem at the same time. The idea energizes Hideyoshi and he orders Jinjuseong taken at once.
Ukita gets the order and relays it. He's meeting with the other heads of other Japanese armies besides Konishi and Kato. "We must occupy Jeolla," he tells them; "our lives depend on it!" And he's probably right; they can't go forever without rations and winter isn't too far off.
Left Jeolla navy headquarters: Uh-oh. They're out of gunpowder. Not good for a military unit to be out of gunpowder. And there's none to be had from the capital or the provincial headquarters either. But how about this: an eccentric guy named Lee Bongsu, who obviously is some sort of chemist or weapons expert, managed to find some local soil that has the raw materials for gunpowder and has just figured out a way to extract it. We even see a little demonstration of the finished product; a tiny bit of the stuff and a nice bright flare. How lucky is that. Then word arrives from Yi's Busan scout of Japanese units gathering at a central location called Gimhae. Something's up, obviously; Yi orders it investigated.
Kato's camp: An angry Kato wonders why there's been no reply to Prince Imhae's letter. A terrified Imhae says he'll write another one.
Which he did, and which Gwanghae is now reading. But nothing has changed and he still will ignore the situation. "I told you," he tells a concerned Jeong Tak, "he died in battle fighting against Wae." But Jeong reminds him that the king will want answers eventually, so he agrees to at least have the situation investigated.
"It serves him right." That female attendant working with Consort Kim's brother has just told him about the Imhae situation and he's laughing about it. "Imhae was really mean to my family."
Consort Kim goes right to the king and reveals everything. Seonjo, remember, had no idea Imhae had been captured. That's the last straw. He orders Gwanghae summoned to Uiju immediately. Kim tells him that he has to save Imhae to keep Gwanghae under control. Huh? "Ming will wonder why the oldest son didn't become the crown prince. They won't approve of the installation. But if Imhae dies, Gwanghae will become the oldest son." Meaning, he'll be the one Ming will want as crown prince, and not Sinseong, who's Kim's son and Seonjo's favorite.
Gwanghae leaves for Uiju...
"You were investigating?" And now he's kneeling before his father, explaining himself in a meeting with the high officials. Says he thought the Imhae letter might have been a deception of some sort and wanted to check it out. And denies having any desire to remain the crown prince. Once again Yun and Jeong jump in and defend him. Seonjo's first reaction is to order an army sent to rescue Imhae...and his second is to negotiate using some of that silver the Ming emperor sent. But there are no soldiers free to go save the prince, and that silver is badly needed for warm clothes for soldiers for the winter. And Jeong suggests that by not responding, maybe the enemy will see him as useless and release him. That seems unlikely but he makes a historical analogy to a Ming emperor who was captured by barbarians and later released. Then Gwanghae shocks everyone by offering to go to Kato and offer himself in exchange for Imhae. And he's serious; this isn't just talk. Of course it shocks everyone in the room...but of course that's never going to be allowed to happen.
Afterwards Seonjo broods over the power he feels slipping away from him and over Yun and Jeong. "Who is the king? Me or Gwanghae? I can't forgive them. I can't...They'll try to pass the throne to him. What will I do with them?"
Ryu gets word from YSS of the enemy troop movements. He immediately knows what their intention is. "Jinjuseong. They're going after Jinjuseong!" He rushes to see the crown prince and explains in no uncertain terms just how dangerous and urgent the situation is. "Send a letter to the righteous troops," Ryu urges, to tell them to help defend Jinjuseong. But Gwanghae knows he's on thin ice with his father and needs to report all of this first. There isn't time, Ryu urges; you have to act now. And besides, we're defending and not attacking, so the truce isn't an issue. And "If he won't let us fight because of a truce, we can't say he is our king." Gwanghae agrees and says he'll send the letter while Ryu rushes north to inform the king.
Gwanghae knows he's in trouble now; his father will be furious for attacking the enemy against the truce order. Ryu insists that he's going to take the blame for this to protect him.
Word reaches Uiju, and yep, Seonjo is furious. He's sure that the enemy will retaliate by immediately heading north to capture him right here (which would never happen but he's not thinking straight). Yun Dusu and Jeong Cheol once again stick up for the crown prince--"We have to fight and defeat them...he acted for the people"--but Seonjo says he wasn't trying to avoid fighting, only wanted to wait for reinforcements. And he's getting irritated with the two of them for constantly taking Gwanghae's side and disagreeing with him. But now wait...some sort of commotion outside...it's cheering people! What the heck? Seonjo goes outside to find Lee Il standing there in front of a happy crowd of Uiju citizens and a small group of the prisoners Lee caught. The citizens are cheering Seonjo for striking back and taking revenge against the enemy. Well this has gotten almost surreal. Seonjo steps forward and addresses them; it's part explanation for what's happened recently and part taking advantage of the situation for his own benefit. Very shrewdly political. Seonjo sincerely thanks Lee and rewards him with silver and a promotion.
Konishi's camp. Konishi has a response to what happened. And it isn't very Konishi-like: he starts killing Pyongyang citizens. Takes some outside of the fortress walls and kills a few himself. Knows that Joseon troops are watching him and shouts that he wants their prisoners returned or the killings will continue. (And yes, Joseon troops are covertly watching, but they're in no position to stop the killing at the moment.) Konishi goes back inside and we see Ukita. Ukita does have a shoulder wound but it hardly looks life-threatening. He's so mad, though, he threatens to actually dig up and desecrate the graves of former Joseon kings.
"He's going to kill our people?" Seonjo is stunned. And he learns that Ukita did indeed dig up royal graves. At that he passes clean out. Narration tells us that at least two gravesites were dug up and the coffins of Kings Seongjong and Jungjong and Queen Jeonghyeon were burned. We see soldiers setting fire to the coffins as Ukita looks on and laughs.
Seonjo is devastated; says he won't be able to face the former kings and says it's all Gwanghae's fault. People are trying to tend to him, physically and emotionally, but he throws them all out of the room. The next morning a royal physician informs the officials that they're not to bother him for a while.
Oh dear, and now another death: Lee Deokhyeong's wife. A villager from Lee's home town shows up in Uiju with the bad news. She was with a group who took refuge in a remote area but an enemy unit attacked them. She ended up jumping off a cliff and her body was never found. Understandably Lee is crushed. As we watch Lee return to his home town, narration tells us that over the seven-year course of the war, 1.8 million people died and 100,000 were taken prisoner. "Joseon was a land of corpses and blood."
Japan: Hideyoshi learns of the naval defeat at Busan and takes it pretty well, all things considered. And Maeda has an idea: he's identified a place called Jinjuseong. It's basically the gateway to Jeolla province from where the armies are now. If they can seize it, they'll be able to occupy Jeolla, where this year's harvest has been abundant, and also be within striking distance of Yi Sunsin's camp. It would solve their rations problem and their naval problem at the same time. The idea energizes Hideyoshi and he orders Jinjuseong taken at once.
Ukita gets the order and relays it. He's meeting with the other heads of other Japanese armies besides Konishi and Kato. "We must occupy Jeolla," he tells them; "our lives depend on it!" And he's probably right; they can't go forever without rations and winter isn't too far off.
Left Jeolla navy headquarters: Uh-oh. They're out of gunpowder. Not good for a military unit to be out of gunpowder. And there's none to be had from the capital or the provincial headquarters either. But how about this: an eccentric guy named Lee Bongsu, who obviously is some sort of chemist or weapons expert, managed to find some local soil that has the raw materials for gunpowder and has just figured out a way to extract it. We even see a little demonstration of the finished product; a tiny bit of the stuff and a nice bright flare. How lucky is that. Then word arrives from Yi's Busan scout of Japanese units gathering at a central location called Gimhae. Something's up, obviously; Yi orders it investigated.
Kato's camp: An angry Kato wonders why there's been no reply to Prince Imhae's letter. A terrified Imhae says he'll write another one.
Which he did, and which Gwanghae is now reading. But nothing has changed and he still will ignore the situation. "I told you," he tells a concerned Jeong Tak, "he died in battle fighting against Wae." But Jeong reminds him that the king will want answers eventually, so he agrees to at least have the situation investigated.
"It serves him right." That female attendant working with Consort Kim's brother has just told him about the Imhae situation and he's laughing about it. "Imhae was really mean to my family."
Consort Kim goes right to the king and reveals everything. Seonjo, remember, had no idea Imhae had been captured. That's the last straw. He orders Gwanghae summoned to Uiju immediately. Kim tells him that he has to save Imhae to keep Gwanghae under control. Huh? "Ming will wonder why the oldest son didn't become the crown prince. They won't approve of the installation. But if Imhae dies, Gwanghae will become the oldest son." Meaning, he'll be the one Ming will want as crown prince, and not Sinseong, who's Kim's son and Seonjo's favorite.
Gwanghae leaves for Uiju...
"You were investigating?" And now he's kneeling before his father, explaining himself in a meeting with the high officials. Says he thought the Imhae letter might have been a deception of some sort and wanted to check it out. And denies having any desire to remain the crown prince. Once again Yun and Jeong jump in and defend him. Seonjo's first reaction is to order an army sent to rescue Imhae...and his second is to negotiate using some of that silver the Ming emperor sent. But there are no soldiers free to go save the prince, and that silver is badly needed for warm clothes for soldiers for the winter. And Jeong suggests that by not responding, maybe the enemy will see him as useless and release him. That seems unlikely but he makes a historical analogy to a Ming emperor who was captured by barbarians and later released. Then Gwanghae shocks everyone by offering to go to Kato and offer himself in exchange for Imhae. And he's serious; this isn't just talk. Of course it shocks everyone in the room...but of course that's never going to be allowed to happen.
Afterwards Seonjo broods over the power he feels slipping away from him and over Yun and Jeong. "Who is the king? Me or Gwanghae? I can't forgive them. I can't...They'll try to pass the throne to him. What will I do with them?"
Ryu gets word from YSS of the enemy troop movements. He immediately knows what their intention is. "Jinjuseong. They're going after Jinjuseong!" He rushes to see the crown prince and explains in no uncertain terms just how dangerous and urgent the situation is. "Send a letter to the righteous troops," Ryu urges, to tell them to help defend Jinjuseong. But Gwanghae knows he's on thin ice with his father and needs to report all of this first. There isn't time, Ryu urges; you have to act now. And besides, we're defending and not attacking, so the truce isn't an issue. And "If he won't let us fight because of a truce, we can't say he is our king." Gwanghae agrees and says he'll send the letter while Ryu rushes north to inform the king.
