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Post by ginnycat5 on Apr 14, 2007 20:38:17 GMT -5
Thanks so much, ajk!
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Post by BungalowDweller on Apr 16, 2007 21:32:38 GMT -5
Thanks, hjk! I remember Hyunsik (Mimosa) now but what is the ex-king Bojang doing. Where is he and how did he elude Tang?
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Post by ajk on Apr 17, 2007 16:10:12 GMT -5
(See the April 12 post about the exile scene.) They still haven't made clear what he's doing by that lake. Truth made the point that he's supposed to be in Tang's capital and that sure doesn't look like a capital. You're right, it does look like he's in hiding rather than under Tang control. I guess we'll have to wait for this to play itself out for an explanation.
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Post by BungalowDweller on Apr 17, 2007 21:04:26 GMT -5
So the King is in external exile in China! It amazes me that the Tang just didn't kill him. And now they want to use him as a puppet in the new Andong Province! At least that move back to the country would make it easier for Mimosa to stay in touch with the King.
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Post by BAE on Apr 18, 2007 10:31:35 GMT -5
Thanks for the info ajk. It helped me understand what's going much better! Much appreciated. I think that Mimosa is a very intelligent man who knows what's going on and can help DJY if he wanted to. Like Shin Hong is treating ole what's his face as his "master", I think that Mimosa should act as advisor to DJY. But then again--- DJY has his imperial energy going for him.. Not sure if he'll need the extra help.
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Post by ajk on Apr 18, 2007 11:35:25 GMT -5
My apologies, the older man with Hyunsik/Mimosa was his grandfather, not his father. Not that we'll be seeing him again.
Didn't like that story from Mimosa. He was found guilty of collaborating, so Tang killed everyone else in the port and left him alive, and lets him fraternize with the ex-king? That's beyond ridiculous. Sloppy, sloppy writing. All he had to say was that his grandfather took the fall for it and was executed. That would have been plenty of motivation for the character to seek revenge, and it would have made sense.
BungalowDweller, you read my mind about the king. Very surprised he wasn't executed right there in his throne room, especially with Xue the Impulsive One right there. Maybe they were under orders to bring him back alive as a trophy to the Tang emperor. Now THAT would have been an interesting angle to write. But from what little I know, and from something Truth said, this really did happen in history--Bojang was brought back to Tang and then later sent him out to Liaodong to quell unrest. It seems like a bad idea from the Tang point of view, but apparently that's what happened. So I give the series credit for being faithful to it.
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Post by ginnycat5 on Apr 18, 2007 18:24:29 GMT -5
What would be the king's motivation to push the people into being submissive? "Here I am, your King, and I'm perfectly happy under the Tang! Yea! Tang forces!" Uh, not persuasive. 'Don't listen to people wanting you to be proud of being Korean (or whatever it was then). We got a new boss now." It seems like having a figurehead to coopt the people has been done recently, like WW2, but I don't understand the thought behind it. If he's the symbol of something worthy, then don't feelings of pride well up when he's seen by the public? That would be the opposite of what the new rulers want. I think they're taking a big chance it will backfire. heh,heh.
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Post by BungalowDweller on Apr 18, 2007 19:32:53 GMT -5
But then, again, the ancient Romans used this tactic to great advantage. The provinces of the Roman empire were almost entirely governed by the conquered people. Rome understood that people wanted to "forget" that they were conquered nations and were happier with their own elites in control. It worked for Rome because the Romans understood that people governed by their own were less restive. The indigenous rulers controlled their own populations--after all, they had a vested interest in retaining their power. In general, Rome let the provinces run their administrations as they saw fit, as long as there was no threat to the Emperor and the taxes continued to flow into Rome. The one unhappy exception to this was Judea. Since Pilate couldn't control the Jews, he was recalled to Rome for some kind of discipline. The final straw that broke the camel's back in Israel was that Pilate ordered images of the Emperor hung in the temple, which was, of course, against Jewish religious law. The Jews rioted and created much havoc, thereby effectively ending the career of Pilate on a sour note and tragically ruining relations with Rome to the extent that Rome eventually laid the temple to waste.
One can see the wisdom of Tang in using the same idea here.
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Post by BAE on Apr 19, 2007 8:41:43 GMT -5
That's a fair comparison, BD. I can see it better now that it's been juxtaposed to the scenario you laid forth.
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Post by ajk on Apr 20, 2007 16:19:27 GMT -5
BD--a good point and a great historical reference. We'll see what happens. The other side of it is that this isn't a situation with a big fish gobbling up smaller fishes, these are two kingdoms that have been at each other's throats for a long time and have spilled huge amounts of blood on each other. All I'll say, without risking a spoiler, is that if the series is true to history on this, then they'll wish they hadn't done it.
The Tang generals think he's "a man of no ambition," but at the end of Ep. 31 when he dropped that bomb on everyone and named YM supreme commander, that was a big step-up moment for him in a tough situation. So he does have some cojones after all. But of course the generals probably wouldn't know that. It will make for an interesting story line, whatever happens.
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