Post by ajk on Aug 23, 2015 2:27:23 GMT -5
Ryu does as Yun Dusu asks of him...but he slumps into a chair and despairs over Kim Deokryeong's fate.
We see the torture continuing. A whole bunch of people being tortured, apparently most or all of them are Kim and other militia leaders. Told to confess his crimes, Kim admits to cutting short his mourning period for his dead mother, so he could fight. "I was an undutiful son. How can I expect to live?" Probably knows that's not a crime and he's not going to be punished for that...but it's all academic now because suddenly his eyes roll back in his head and he dies. Narration tells us that Gwak Jaeu was also detained; he was released but promptly went home and lived the rest of his life in seclusion. And we're told that not only did this incident severely discourage militia activities from then on, but it led Lee Deokhyeong to resign from his post as minister of war.
Busan: Uh-oh...Konishi is back home temporarily and the Ming envoys have arrived, so it's Kato who's meeting with them. They're asking him to withdraw the army but he tells them in no uncertain terms that nobody's budging until Hideyoshi gives him an order.
Japan: Konishi and Shen Weijing get bad news: Saisho Jotai, who handles all of the foreign-relations documents for Hideyoshi (and whose cooperation Konishi needs) is temporarily out of town. So they're going to have to stall until he returns and they can talk to him. They also decide to try to get Kato recalled back to Japan because he keeps interfering with their plans.
Next day: An impatient Hideyoshi tells Konishi to order the Ming envoys here right away. This is all taking too long for him. Konishi says they're probably in Busan by now and he'll hurry them along. Also assures Hideyoshi that they'll be bringing a proposal for granting some of Joseon's land. Then, with Ishida's help, he manages to convince Hideyoshi to recall Kato.
Yu Join and Lee Icheom are complaining to prince Gwanghae that Yun Dusu didn't use the evidence they found to get Ryu fired. Gwanghae tells them nicely that the country still needs Ryu, but seems to agree with their argument for bringing more Northerners into the government. Narration then tells us a bit about Lee Icheom and then comments that despite it being wartime, "the Joseon court still had internal struggles and party strife that did not end."
Ryu writes a letter to Yi Sunsin, cautioning him not to let himself be misunderstood by Seonjo after what happened to Kim Deokryeong. Then he's surprised by a visit from Gwanghae. The prince has come to ask a favor, he says in the name of national unity. Back when all of those scholars were purged and murdered during the Jeong Yeorip treason investigation (we saw that earlier in the series), those who were purged had their statuses lowered. Gwanghae says that restoring the statuses of those who were unjustly purged, and there were many of them, would actually improve the morale of the militia and make them more likely to fight again because some of those purged scholars were teachers to some of the militia leaders. It seems like a stretch. Ryu doesn't argue it but thinks it will be difficult to sell the idea to the increasingly paranoid king. And this is something Yu Join wants, which doesn't appeal to Ryu at all for political reasons...but he agrees to help the prince for the sake of the country.
Lee Deokhyeong and Lee Hangbok are worried about Ryu sticking his neck out for the prince's request, knowing how Seonjo is likely to react. But Ryu thinks the benefit outweighs making the king upset and asks them to help him.
"Nonsense." Seonjo has just heard the pitch and laughs at it. Gwanghae, Ryu, Lee Deokhyeong and Yu Join try their best, but the king gets angry and orders them away.
Well, this isn't going to just go away. Other officials and scholars are on the palace grounds now, kneeling and protesting for it....
...and Lee Hangbok argues with Yun Dusu about it. Lee is helping Ryu as Ryu asked; Yun strongly believes the whole thing should be left alone, it has so many negative strings attached to it--including personal ones affecting friends and former colleagues of his like Jeong Cheol. But Yun says that if it's for national unity, he won't do anything to stop the effort.
"You should approve." Consort Kim is serving tea to Seonjo and tries to persuade him to at least restore the statuses of "those whose crimes were light." As we see in flashback, she's doing this because Gwanghae asked her to. Gwanghae promises "a nice future" for her son Prince Jeongwon so she agreed. She also suggests to him that doing so will help balance the government so that no one faction has as much power as the Easterners have now. He smiles and chuckles a little; he's impressed with her insight once again.
He approved it. Narration tells us that in 1596 the first restorations of scholars who were caught up in the Jeong Yeorip treason scandal took place. "It wasn't much," we're told, "but it was a little bit of progress for the Northerners."
Japan: Those two Ming envoys? So Yoshitoshi managed to scare one of them off; threatened him and the guy went back home. The other is arranging for Shen Weijing to be named deputy envoy as a replacement. Konishi laughs; that much at least has worked out well. "We succeeded halfway." But they still have to get Saisho Jotai to cooperate when the Ming document is read aloud to Hideyoshi. But now all hell breaks loose because a just-recalled Kato barges into the room and goes after Konishi with sword drawn! Fortunately Ukita comes in and calms everything down; suggests they bet their land holdings if they're so desperate to fight each other. Well that shuts them up. Until Kato has a screaming temper tantrum and storms out. Anyway, Ukita has brought an order from Hideyoshi, an order to withdraw a portion of his army from Joseon. Konishi is to carry that out when he returns to Busan.
Southern naval headquarters: Yi Sunsin reads Ryu's letter. He gets news of the partial withdrawal and he and his officers sit down to discuss what to do about it. The officers are concerned that this is part of a truce settlement; Yi assures them that Ming would never agree to a land allotment. But he's not about to stand pat either way. He orders the situation monitored carefully so that no more enemy soldiers leave Busan alive.
Oh dear, looks like it didn't work after all. Yu Join is arguing with Ryu and the two Lees about which scholars did and did not have their statuses restored. Ryu slams his hands on the table and stands up. "What is the reason you wanted this? Should I guess?" Accuses Yu of orchestrating the whole thing not to right a wrong but to gain political power. "Do you think I don't know you're using unity as an excuse to take over the court?" Just then an angry Gwanghae walks in. Clearly he thinks Ryu didn't do what he promised and played politics with the choices of scholars. Afterwards Lee Icheom advises him that Ryu needs to be driven out of office.
Japan: Uh-oh, Jotai refused. And the meeting with the envoys is tomorrow. Too late for any other course of action now, and Konishi knows it.
Next day: Hideyoshi receives the Ming envoy and Shen Weijing. He's happy that they're here to arrange the end of the war. And to grant part of Joseon's territory. Then Jotai steps up to read the official Ming document. It lists three things: approval of Hideyoshi as king of Japan; a refusal of tributary offerings; and an order for a full withdrawal of the Japan army from Joseon. Nothing about a land grant. Hideyoshi is momentarily stunned...then he laughs, thinking it's a joke...then he freaks out, flips over a table and grabs a sword, which he brandishes at the envoys' throats. "Do you want another fight?!"
We see the torture continuing. A whole bunch of people being tortured, apparently most or all of them are Kim and other militia leaders. Told to confess his crimes, Kim admits to cutting short his mourning period for his dead mother, so he could fight. "I was an undutiful son. How can I expect to live?" Probably knows that's not a crime and he's not going to be punished for that...but it's all academic now because suddenly his eyes roll back in his head and he dies. Narration tells us that Gwak Jaeu was also detained; he was released but promptly went home and lived the rest of his life in seclusion. And we're told that not only did this incident severely discourage militia activities from then on, but it led Lee Deokhyeong to resign from his post as minister of war.
Busan: Uh-oh...Konishi is back home temporarily and the Ming envoys have arrived, so it's Kato who's meeting with them. They're asking him to withdraw the army but he tells them in no uncertain terms that nobody's budging until Hideyoshi gives him an order.
Japan: Konishi and Shen Weijing get bad news: Saisho Jotai, who handles all of the foreign-relations documents for Hideyoshi (and whose cooperation Konishi needs) is temporarily out of town. So they're going to have to stall until he returns and they can talk to him. They also decide to try to get Kato recalled back to Japan because he keeps interfering with their plans.
Next day: An impatient Hideyoshi tells Konishi to order the Ming envoys here right away. This is all taking too long for him. Konishi says they're probably in Busan by now and he'll hurry them along. Also assures Hideyoshi that they'll be bringing a proposal for granting some of Joseon's land. Then, with Ishida's help, he manages to convince Hideyoshi to recall Kato.
Yu Join and Lee Icheom are complaining to prince Gwanghae that Yun Dusu didn't use the evidence they found to get Ryu fired. Gwanghae tells them nicely that the country still needs Ryu, but seems to agree with their argument for bringing more Northerners into the government. Narration then tells us a bit about Lee Icheom and then comments that despite it being wartime, "the Joseon court still had internal struggles and party strife that did not end."
Ryu writes a letter to Yi Sunsin, cautioning him not to let himself be misunderstood by Seonjo after what happened to Kim Deokryeong. Then he's surprised by a visit from Gwanghae. The prince has come to ask a favor, he says in the name of national unity. Back when all of those scholars were purged and murdered during the Jeong Yeorip treason investigation (we saw that earlier in the series), those who were purged had their statuses lowered. Gwanghae says that restoring the statuses of those who were unjustly purged, and there were many of them, would actually improve the morale of the militia and make them more likely to fight again because some of those purged scholars were teachers to some of the militia leaders. It seems like a stretch. Ryu doesn't argue it but thinks it will be difficult to sell the idea to the increasingly paranoid king. And this is something Yu Join wants, which doesn't appeal to Ryu at all for political reasons...but he agrees to help the prince for the sake of the country.
Lee Deokhyeong and Lee Hangbok are worried about Ryu sticking his neck out for the prince's request, knowing how Seonjo is likely to react. But Ryu thinks the benefit outweighs making the king upset and asks them to help him.
"Nonsense." Seonjo has just heard the pitch and laughs at it. Gwanghae, Ryu, Lee Deokhyeong and Yu Join try their best, but the king gets angry and orders them away.
Well, this isn't going to just go away. Other officials and scholars are on the palace grounds now, kneeling and protesting for it....
...and Lee Hangbok argues with Yun Dusu about it. Lee is helping Ryu as Ryu asked; Yun strongly believes the whole thing should be left alone, it has so many negative strings attached to it--including personal ones affecting friends and former colleagues of his like Jeong Cheol. But Yun says that if it's for national unity, he won't do anything to stop the effort.
"You should approve." Consort Kim is serving tea to Seonjo and tries to persuade him to at least restore the statuses of "those whose crimes were light." As we see in flashback, she's doing this because Gwanghae asked her to. Gwanghae promises "a nice future" for her son Prince Jeongwon so she agreed. She also suggests to him that doing so will help balance the government so that no one faction has as much power as the Easterners have now. He smiles and chuckles a little; he's impressed with her insight once again.
He approved it. Narration tells us that in 1596 the first restorations of scholars who were caught up in the Jeong Yeorip treason scandal took place. "It wasn't much," we're told, "but it was a little bit of progress for the Northerners."
Japan: Those two Ming envoys? So Yoshitoshi managed to scare one of them off; threatened him and the guy went back home. The other is arranging for Shen Weijing to be named deputy envoy as a replacement. Konishi laughs; that much at least has worked out well. "We succeeded halfway." But they still have to get Saisho Jotai to cooperate when the Ming document is read aloud to Hideyoshi. But now all hell breaks loose because a just-recalled Kato barges into the room and goes after Konishi with sword drawn! Fortunately Ukita comes in and calms everything down; suggests they bet their land holdings if they're so desperate to fight each other. Well that shuts them up. Until Kato has a screaming temper tantrum and storms out. Anyway, Ukita has brought an order from Hideyoshi, an order to withdraw a portion of his army from Joseon. Konishi is to carry that out when he returns to Busan.
Southern naval headquarters: Yi Sunsin reads Ryu's letter. He gets news of the partial withdrawal and he and his officers sit down to discuss what to do about it. The officers are concerned that this is part of a truce settlement; Yi assures them that Ming would never agree to a land allotment. But he's not about to stand pat either way. He orders the situation monitored carefully so that no more enemy soldiers leave Busan alive.
Oh dear, looks like it didn't work after all. Yu Join is arguing with Ryu and the two Lees about which scholars did and did not have their statuses restored. Ryu slams his hands on the table and stands up. "What is the reason you wanted this? Should I guess?" Accuses Yu of orchestrating the whole thing not to right a wrong but to gain political power. "Do you think I don't know you're using unity as an excuse to take over the court?" Just then an angry Gwanghae walks in. Clearly he thinks Ryu didn't do what he promised and played politics with the choices of scholars. Afterwards Lee Icheom advises him that Ryu needs to be driven out of office.
Japan: Uh-oh, Jotai refused. And the meeting with the envoys is tomorrow. Too late for any other course of action now, and Konishi knows it.
Next day: Hideyoshi receives the Ming envoy and Shen Weijing. He's happy that they're here to arrange the end of the war. And to grant part of Joseon's territory. Then Jotai steps up to read the official Ming document. It lists three things: approval of Hideyoshi as king of Japan; a refusal of tributary offerings; and an order for a full withdrawal of the Japan army from Joseon. Nothing about a land grant. Hideyoshi is momentarily stunned...then he laughs, thinking it's a joke...then he freaks out, flips over a table and grabs a sword, which he brandishes at the envoys' throats. "Do you want another fight?!"
