Post by ajk on Nov 1, 2013 22:26:21 GMT -5
Still at the well. This village is called Sohwaldong, we learn. Just outside the capital. The cosmetics that were made using this well's water not only made Choseon's father rich, they established the village as a cosmetics center for the kingdom. We see some of Choseon's tea operation; her father started it with money invested from the cosmetics. We learn he bought fields in Gyeongsang and Jeolla Provinces. She's going to check on them, we learn, and she asks Pyeonjo if he'll go with her. "I'd feel much more secure if you could accompany me. May I ask you this favor?" Pyeonjo doesn't exactly have a busy schedule, does he, so of course he says yes. And now look who else is here: Jihyo. He accompanied Master Bou here and is on his way back home. A strange question from a suddenly concerned-looking Choseon: "Even if you've decided to be ordained, are you going to cut all ties with your family?" Jihyo doesn't answer; only bows respectfully and leaves. Turns out, they're brother and sister! How about that. No wonder she's concerned.
Back inside, Choseon is hosting an afternoon tea for Wolseon, Bou and Pyeonjo. Bou starts trying to urge Wolseon to take some sort of grand action: Wolseon doesn't want to hear it, but Bou presses: "If Buddhism gets back on its track, wouldn't the country follow right after?" Oh boy, talk about an uncomfortable silence...So Bou tries yet again, reminding him of all he did for Pyeonjo, and implying what he could do for so many others. Wolseon doesn't want to hear it. "Have your tea." That is, have your tea and shut up.
Evening: Bou tells Choseon that Wolseon can do so much if he tries, that "the fragments of Buddhism would come together again." Choseon tells him he should do it himself! Good advice; talk is cheap. He bows and leaves her...and now what was that little purple thing skittering across the balcony?...
...It's Ban Ya in her sleeping gown. She remembers Wolseon and wants to sleep in his room. Very cute.
Next morning: Choseon is on a horse led by a subordinate; this must be her trip to her tea fields. All of her monk guests are with her.
Gaegyeong, in the palace complex: We're with the queen dowager, but good grief what is that awful wailing noise coming from outside?...
...It's Lady Yoon. Begging for the king's attention, desperate to save her son. The QD doesn't take it seriously: "Who would dare kill my grandson?" Wise up, lady. Yoon tries begging, pushing, threatening, the whole deal, but the guards won't let her inside. And now Kim Yong comes out, just to rub it in. And adds, "you will not find a single soul willing to save the dethroned king." But he adds a wise piece of insight: it's the Yuan who did this to your son, not Gongmin. "If you want to save your son, go to Yanjing, get on your knees and beg the Empress." She realizes the truth of it and it literally staggers her. Physically knocks her down. It's devastating to her because she sent so many gifts to the empress, and for what? This? Ouch.
So now she tries tome thing else. She goes to Noguk's palace and goes right back to wailing for help. Noguk is inside, visiting with Princess Deoknyeong. Her guest advises ignoring it all, but Noguk feels responsible and wants to do something to help. So she goes outside and meets her in-law. Lady Yoon is stunned that the queen actually came outside. Noguk assures her that no one will kill her son because the king "shall not forgive" anyone who does. That's hardly reassuring, though.
But then Noguk goes to her husband. To be fair, he's doing what he can to keep the boy from being executed. But he tells her angrily, "Wasn't it your Yuan Imperial Family who did this? If Lady Yoon and her son look so pitiful to you, convince the empress to bring them back to Yanjing. Wouldn't that solve everything?" Uh-oh, that's not gonna go over well...and it doesn't. Stop blaming the Yuan for everything, she answers (although he's right about this one--but we've seen that this is a sore spot of hers). Don't worry about pleasing them; "you're the ruler of this land" and you should set a strong example for the country and act as a ruler acts. He scoffs at her. "Are you telling me to face off against the Yuan? Is that it?" We don't have the military power or resources to get into a conflict with them, he has to explain to her. But she asks him, "Don't you have the people with you? No matter how much the Yuan and all the powerful clans try to put chains on your crown, the people are on your side." He thinks she's being naive, but she reminds him of Genghis Khan (see link) "who reunited the divided tribes wandering the barren lands, and helped pave the way for the Great Yuan Empire." But now he plays an unfortunate and ugly trump card. "If I rouse the Yuan's anger, don't you know you'd be the first person I'd be forced to abandon? If I say I'll boycott the Yuan, and keep a Mongol woman by my side, what would the people think? Would they believe I'd ever boycott the Yuan?" Hmmm...you hope they'd understand that he loves his wife, but he does have a point. But she fires right back, "Abandon me first, Your Majesty," if that's what it takes. And "I shall happily accept your decision." And with that, she stands up and leaves him.
Evening: She's back at home with Deoknyeong now. The princess tells her more about how Gongmin's father had to marry a Mongol woman to protect his throne and send Gongmin's mother outside the palace. And not only that, Gongmin's grandfather, King Chungseon (see link), "wed Princess Gyeguk in an arranged marriage." AND, "His great-grandfather, King Chungnyeol (see link), married Princess Jeguk to protect the throne." AND "I myself married His Majesty's brother King Chunghye and gave birth to King Chungmok." This is how it works, she explains; Goryeo rulers have to marry Yuan princesses to preserve their thrones. "Such is our history. So who could ever treat any king married to a Yuan princess as a proper ruler?" But Noguk says she knows all of this. "That's why I told him to start giving up on me first."
Later in the evening: Kim Yong and Jung Se Woon have been summoned to see the king. They go in...
..and we see them sitting there waiting for Gongmin to speak. Why are they here--what's the problem? Finally he explains himself. "I haven't done a single thing in my three-month reign." So he's feeling powerless; no news there. So what does he want from them? "Start protecting me." As in, I want to abolish the Council (Doink!) and I want you two to protect me from Gi Cheol's possible recriminations. Kim Yong thinks Gi will simply accept the decision and not make trouble; Jung Se Woon doesn't. But either way, wow this is a big step.
So Kim Yong leaves Gongmin, and goes home for the evening...but wait, now he's thought the better of it and heads someplace else.
"Abolish the Council?" Good heavens, he's gone straight to Gi Cheol and told him! What's he thinking? "The Council was something Jo Il Shin was lusting after," he tells Gi. Really? We have to watch out for Jo, Kim continues, because he's extremely ambitious and wants all the power he can get. Gi understands, probably because that describes him exactly. "So, should I just wait and see how things develop?" Yes, Kim answers. And if he missteps, we'll take care of him for good. The two disgusted grunts from Gi Cheol here can't distract us from what seems to be a truly brilliant job by Kim of playing Gi like a harmonica. Very shrewd, he is.
Uh-oh, but maybe it wasn't all just smoke coming from Kim. Now Jo Il Shin is visiting him. He's hopping mad--still. He reminds Kim of a promise they had made. "You were to become the commander of the guards and tie up His Majesty's movements, while I'd take control of the court, so that together we could make Goryeo rise once again." Good heavens! So these two aren't exactly the loyal subordinates we assumed they were. Jo is concerned about Gongmin possibly abolishing the Council--because "In no time, the Council will be in my hands." Yikes--how is he pulling that off with Gi Cheol in such control of it? We don't know, but Jo doesn't want it abolished and presses Kim for news of Gongmin's plans. But Kim says Gongmin hasn't had much to say lately, about that or anything else. So Jo leaves him, muttering suspiciously to himself as he mounts his horse and heads home.
Next morning: Council meeting's about to start. Everybody's wondering if anything significant will happen. Gongmin enters and sits on the wide throne. Immediately he starts talking about the Council, and not in a kindly way. How it's always interfered, grabbed power, and generally caused trouble. He even accuses it of causing Goryeo's having to submit to the Yuan. Predictably, that sets the room buzzing angrily. And then Gongmin says flat-out, "From today on, I shall abolish the Council and take control of state affairs first hand." And if that isn't enough, now he starts to make an issue out of, of all things, the councilors' hair. As in, the look that the Yuan elites sport, with the tuft of hair in the front and the top of the head shaved bald. Everyone at the meeting is wearing their official hats; in fact, we hardly ever see these guys without them. But Gongmin starts calling out councilors, starting with Kwon Gyeom and Noh Chaek (we saw them last episode at the training site for Gi Cheol's private guards; we didn't know then that they're councilors) and orders them to take their hats off! So they do, reluctantly, and there's the Yuan hairstyle. Then he calls out Gi Cheol...but Gi has normal non-Yuan hair. So he sends the other two away. "Until your hair has grown all back, don't you dare set foot in here!" And he actually outlaws the hairstyle--under penalty of death! (What's next, large sodas?) Seems like an odd cause to take up, but he's the king. Now, though, he quickly makes everybody forget about that, by addressing the situation with his nephew. Says he's actually inclined to give the boy the Royal Seal back (Double doink!) "But I have something to accomplish first, so I shall postpone that to a later date. We've been a vassal of the Yuan for eighty years...I shall make this right, and then give the throne back to my nephew." WOW! At that, every minister in the place drops to his knees in support of the king. All, that is except Gi Cheol, who stands there half-stunned and half-furious. Gongmin glares at him. "Get on your knees! I am Goryeo's ruler." And a couple of clinks from guards' swords being unsheathed drive that point home. So with an awesome disgusted grunt, Gi wisely joins his colleagues on the floor. Gongmin tells them he sent Lady Yoon to Ganghwa Island to look after her son. "I will temporarily function as ruler in my nephew's place....Anyone found trying to harm the former king, I shall punish him for treason." Incredible. Undoubtedly every single councilor in the room is dumbfounded by Gongmin's sudden display of big-time spine, as we are.
Oh boy, Lady Yoon couldn't be more ready to go--here she comes out of her house, barking orders and getting to her carriage. Don't get in her way right now.
An Dochi has gone to Noguk to report on her husband's amazing work today. "Sitting high and mighty on his throne, as if he was commanding a battalion, how he rebuked the courtiers. It was so exciting and stirring, I wanted to start dancing." Noguk takes the news quietly, but we can see in her face how gratified she is to know that her husband took her advice to heart.
Wolseon and his party have parted company from Choseon and Pyeonjo and are headed back home--or at least, WERE headed back home before Deokun tripped while carrying Wolseon and they took a tumble into a stream. Now the two are drying out and warming up, bickering the whole while. Won Hyeon and another monk are with them but Won knows better than to get involved. But he knows it's harmless, and he tells the other guy how highly he thinks of that crazy old man. Hey, wait, that other guy is Gong Cheol, the guy who was helping the poor people in the city. We were under the impression that he might be only masquerading as a monk, but I guess he's a real one.
And Pyeonjo? He and Choseon have reached her tea fields. But this one, and a lot of the others, apparently she doesn't own them herself any more; she must be renting them. Why? "Powerful clans started lusting after these fields," she explains, "so they conspired with the master of Hyeonhwa Temple, and seized it all." A monk did that? This was no ordinary monk, he was the "Royal Preceptor" so he had plenty of clout. Then she tells Pyeonjo, with concern in her voice, about how the clans have kept farmers as slaves rather than making them tenant farmers. Pyeonjo doesn't say anything, but he's seen plenty of that in his life...in fact, here's a flashback: We're in a field not far from Gaetae Temple. It's full of planted crops that farmers--looks like slave farmers--are working. We see a large wooden post sticking out of the ground to indicate that it's the temple's land. But Wolseon--a slightly younger and much more nimble Wolseon--is frantically, unsuccessfully trying to yank it out! Deokun is trying to stop him, but Wolseon has realized something and pushes him away. "When a monk eats twice a day, that's enough! How much more do you want to eat, if you need to protect these crops from them?" Wolseon calls out to a young boy standing nearby: "Come here, Pyeonjo! Come and help!" So that's Pyeonjo! He and an older woman who's with him (I don't think his mother) help Wolseon and manage to work the post out of its spot. Wolseon topples over, but laughs with triumph and joy. Now all of the markers in the field are being pulled out. Apparently the field belongs to the farmers now, because Wolseon has decided it...Flashback ending, Choseon explains that after her father had lost his lands to the crooks, he heard about Wolseon and what he was doing giving temple lands to the farmers. "So he donated all the land he had left to Gaetae Temple." And adds, "Not long after, he took his own life." So now she doesn't own most of the land that produces her tea, but it's because that was her father's wish.
Now Wolseon, Deokun and Jihyo depart for home. (Sorry, Jihyo was in on this too. Can't keep track of all these monks!) Choseon and Pyeonjo watch them leave. Then the woman turns to Pyeonjo. "You said you wanted to change the world, right?" He smiles, but says nothing. "You know how you can achieve that? It's land. We need to give land back to the farmers for the world to change."
Lady Yoon is in a small carriage, at the heart of a small royal procession on its way to Ganghwa Island. She's urging everyone to hurry along.
Finally she arrives. Oh good grief--she's too late. She goes into the boy's room and finds him under a sheet. Dead. What happened?
Yanjing: Empress Gi is looking over some women. Who are they? Commissioner Park tells her (and us) that "The officials in Goryeo took the opportunity and sent their daughters for His Highness to choose." Ayushiridara peers out with interest from behind a curtain. He's a little young for this just yet (looks like he's about eleven), but that won't stop his mother from pulling the trigger on it if she sees fit. But she's a little distracted by something else--that hairstyle issue that she heard Gongmin is enforcing The Han Chinese have made trouble about the same thing, she says, and now Goryeo too? Seems to be a cause for concern. Then she turns to Park. "Was it you?" You, what? "I'm asking, were you the one who had the former king poisoned?" Park chuckles at that (partly because he almost certainly wouldn't do such a thing on his own, considering his good relationship with the empress), and he adds that "there would be a line of people ready to kill him to gain some power." Now she calls her son forward. "Mother will choose a princess for you. Don't forget that Goryeo blood flows in your veins." Aw come on, mom, let the kid pick for himself already.
Evening, Gaegyeong: Choseon returns to the city, to news of the former king's death--by poisoning! Her subordinate greets her on the main road and urges her to hurry home because there could be trouble on the streets. Just as they turn off the street, a guarded horse-drawn cart carrying the boy's body shows up. Pyeonjo stops and watches it pass, and then kneels to offer a prayer of support for his friend Gongmin.
Gongmin and the ministers are gathered in the Council hall, awaiting the dead former king's return. The coffin arrives, and Gongmin goes out to receive it. He orders the coffin be opened. Guess he has to see for himself. He slowly descends the steps and approaches it. And orders it opened. Yeah, it's him. Of course it moves his uncle to tears. "May the heavens send over my head the flames and brimstone of hell!" The visceral grief of it sets him to screaming.
Back inside, Choseon is hosting an afternoon tea for Wolseon, Bou and Pyeonjo. Bou starts trying to urge Wolseon to take some sort of grand action: Wolseon doesn't want to hear it, but Bou presses: "If Buddhism gets back on its track, wouldn't the country follow right after?" Oh boy, talk about an uncomfortable silence...So Bou tries yet again, reminding him of all he did for Pyeonjo, and implying what he could do for so many others. Wolseon doesn't want to hear it. "Have your tea." That is, have your tea and shut up.
Evening: Bou tells Choseon that Wolseon can do so much if he tries, that "the fragments of Buddhism would come together again." Choseon tells him he should do it himself! Good advice; talk is cheap. He bows and leaves her...and now what was that little purple thing skittering across the balcony?...
...It's Ban Ya in her sleeping gown. She remembers Wolseon and wants to sleep in his room. Very cute.
Next morning: Choseon is on a horse led by a subordinate; this must be her trip to her tea fields. All of her monk guests are with her.
Gaegyeong, in the palace complex: We're with the queen dowager, but good grief what is that awful wailing noise coming from outside?...
...It's Lady Yoon. Begging for the king's attention, desperate to save her son. The QD doesn't take it seriously: "Who would dare kill my grandson?" Wise up, lady. Yoon tries begging, pushing, threatening, the whole deal, but the guards won't let her inside. And now Kim Yong comes out, just to rub it in. And adds, "you will not find a single soul willing to save the dethroned king." But he adds a wise piece of insight: it's the Yuan who did this to your son, not Gongmin. "If you want to save your son, go to Yanjing, get on your knees and beg the Empress." She realizes the truth of it and it literally staggers her. Physically knocks her down. It's devastating to her because she sent so many gifts to the empress, and for what? This? Ouch.
So now she tries tome thing else. She goes to Noguk's palace and goes right back to wailing for help. Noguk is inside, visiting with Princess Deoknyeong. Her guest advises ignoring it all, but Noguk feels responsible and wants to do something to help. So she goes outside and meets her in-law. Lady Yoon is stunned that the queen actually came outside. Noguk assures her that no one will kill her son because the king "shall not forgive" anyone who does. That's hardly reassuring, though.
But then Noguk goes to her husband. To be fair, he's doing what he can to keep the boy from being executed. But he tells her angrily, "Wasn't it your Yuan Imperial Family who did this? If Lady Yoon and her son look so pitiful to you, convince the empress to bring them back to Yanjing. Wouldn't that solve everything?" Uh-oh, that's not gonna go over well...and it doesn't. Stop blaming the Yuan for everything, she answers (although he's right about this one--but we've seen that this is a sore spot of hers). Don't worry about pleasing them; "you're the ruler of this land" and you should set a strong example for the country and act as a ruler acts. He scoffs at her. "Are you telling me to face off against the Yuan? Is that it?" We don't have the military power or resources to get into a conflict with them, he has to explain to her. But she asks him, "Don't you have the people with you? No matter how much the Yuan and all the powerful clans try to put chains on your crown, the people are on your side." He thinks she's being naive, but she reminds him of Genghis Khan (see link) "who reunited the divided tribes wandering the barren lands, and helped pave the way for the Great Yuan Empire." But now he plays an unfortunate and ugly trump card. "If I rouse the Yuan's anger, don't you know you'd be the first person I'd be forced to abandon? If I say I'll boycott the Yuan, and keep a Mongol woman by my side, what would the people think? Would they believe I'd ever boycott the Yuan?" Hmmm...you hope they'd understand that he loves his wife, but he does have a point. But she fires right back, "Abandon me first, Your Majesty," if that's what it takes. And "I shall happily accept your decision." And with that, she stands up and leaves him.
Evening: She's back at home with Deoknyeong now. The princess tells her more about how Gongmin's father had to marry a Mongol woman to protect his throne and send Gongmin's mother outside the palace. And not only that, Gongmin's grandfather, King Chungseon (see link), "wed Princess Gyeguk in an arranged marriage." AND, "His great-grandfather, King Chungnyeol (see link), married Princess Jeguk to protect the throne." AND "I myself married His Majesty's brother King Chunghye and gave birth to King Chungmok." This is how it works, she explains; Goryeo rulers have to marry Yuan princesses to preserve their thrones. "Such is our history. So who could ever treat any king married to a Yuan princess as a proper ruler?" But Noguk says she knows all of this. "That's why I told him to start giving up on me first."
Later in the evening: Kim Yong and Jung Se Woon have been summoned to see the king. They go in...
..and we see them sitting there waiting for Gongmin to speak. Why are they here--what's the problem? Finally he explains himself. "I haven't done a single thing in my three-month reign." So he's feeling powerless; no news there. So what does he want from them? "Start protecting me." As in, I want to abolish the Council (Doink!) and I want you two to protect me from Gi Cheol's possible recriminations. Kim Yong thinks Gi will simply accept the decision and not make trouble; Jung Se Woon doesn't. But either way, wow this is a big step.
So Kim Yong leaves Gongmin, and goes home for the evening...but wait, now he's thought the better of it and heads someplace else.
"Abolish the Council?" Good heavens, he's gone straight to Gi Cheol and told him! What's he thinking? "The Council was something Jo Il Shin was lusting after," he tells Gi. Really? We have to watch out for Jo, Kim continues, because he's extremely ambitious and wants all the power he can get. Gi understands, probably because that describes him exactly. "So, should I just wait and see how things develop?" Yes, Kim answers. And if he missteps, we'll take care of him for good. The two disgusted grunts from Gi Cheol here can't distract us from what seems to be a truly brilliant job by Kim of playing Gi like a harmonica. Very shrewd, he is.
Uh-oh, but maybe it wasn't all just smoke coming from Kim. Now Jo Il Shin is visiting him. He's hopping mad--still. He reminds Kim of a promise they had made. "You were to become the commander of the guards and tie up His Majesty's movements, while I'd take control of the court, so that together we could make Goryeo rise once again." Good heavens! So these two aren't exactly the loyal subordinates we assumed they were. Jo is concerned about Gongmin possibly abolishing the Council--because "In no time, the Council will be in my hands." Yikes--how is he pulling that off with Gi Cheol in such control of it? We don't know, but Jo doesn't want it abolished and presses Kim for news of Gongmin's plans. But Kim says Gongmin hasn't had much to say lately, about that or anything else. So Jo leaves him, muttering suspiciously to himself as he mounts his horse and heads home.
Next morning: Council meeting's about to start. Everybody's wondering if anything significant will happen. Gongmin enters and sits on the wide throne. Immediately he starts talking about the Council, and not in a kindly way. How it's always interfered, grabbed power, and generally caused trouble. He even accuses it of causing Goryeo's having to submit to the Yuan. Predictably, that sets the room buzzing angrily. And then Gongmin says flat-out, "From today on, I shall abolish the Council and take control of state affairs first hand." And if that isn't enough, now he starts to make an issue out of, of all things, the councilors' hair. As in, the look that the Yuan elites sport, with the tuft of hair in the front and the top of the head shaved bald. Everyone at the meeting is wearing their official hats; in fact, we hardly ever see these guys without them. But Gongmin starts calling out councilors, starting with Kwon Gyeom and Noh Chaek (we saw them last episode at the training site for Gi Cheol's private guards; we didn't know then that they're councilors) and orders them to take their hats off! So they do, reluctantly, and there's the Yuan hairstyle. Then he calls out Gi Cheol...but Gi has normal non-Yuan hair. So he sends the other two away. "Until your hair has grown all back, don't you dare set foot in here!" And he actually outlaws the hairstyle--under penalty of death! (What's next, large sodas?) Seems like an odd cause to take up, but he's the king. Now, though, he quickly makes everybody forget about that, by addressing the situation with his nephew. Says he's actually inclined to give the boy the Royal Seal back (Double doink!) "But I have something to accomplish first, so I shall postpone that to a later date. We've been a vassal of the Yuan for eighty years...I shall make this right, and then give the throne back to my nephew." WOW! At that, every minister in the place drops to his knees in support of the king. All, that is except Gi Cheol, who stands there half-stunned and half-furious. Gongmin glares at him. "Get on your knees! I am Goryeo's ruler." And a couple of clinks from guards' swords being unsheathed drive that point home. So with an awesome disgusted grunt, Gi wisely joins his colleagues on the floor. Gongmin tells them he sent Lady Yoon to Ganghwa Island to look after her son. "I will temporarily function as ruler in my nephew's place....Anyone found trying to harm the former king, I shall punish him for treason." Incredible. Undoubtedly every single councilor in the room is dumbfounded by Gongmin's sudden display of big-time spine, as we are.
Oh boy, Lady Yoon couldn't be more ready to go--here she comes out of her house, barking orders and getting to her carriage. Don't get in her way right now.
An Dochi has gone to Noguk to report on her husband's amazing work today. "Sitting high and mighty on his throne, as if he was commanding a battalion, how he rebuked the courtiers. It was so exciting and stirring, I wanted to start dancing." Noguk takes the news quietly, but we can see in her face how gratified she is to know that her husband took her advice to heart.
Wolseon and his party have parted company from Choseon and Pyeonjo and are headed back home--or at least, WERE headed back home before Deokun tripped while carrying Wolseon and they took a tumble into a stream. Now the two are drying out and warming up, bickering the whole while. Won Hyeon and another monk are with them but Won knows better than to get involved. But he knows it's harmless, and he tells the other guy how highly he thinks of that crazy old man. Hey, wait, that other guy is Gong Cheol, the guy who was helping the poor people in the city. We were under the impression that he might be only masquerading as a monk, but I guess he's a real one.
And Pyeonjo? He and Choseon have reached her tea fields. But this one, and a lot of the others, apparently she doesn't own them herself any more; she must be renting them. Why? "Powerful clans started lusting after these fields," she explains, "so they conspired with the master of Hyeonhwa Temple, and seized it all." A monk did that? This was no ordinary monk, he was the "Royal Preceptor" so he had plenty of clout. Then she tells Pyeonjo, with concern in her voice, about how the clans have kept farmers as slaves rather than making them tenant farmers. Pyeonjo doesn't say anything, but he's seen plenty of that in his life...in fact, here's a flashback: We're in a field not far from Gaetae Temple. It's full of planted crops that farmers--looks like slave farmers--are working. We see a large wooden post sticking out of the ground to indicate that it's the temple's land. But Wolseon--a slightly younger and much more nimble Wolseon--is frantically, unsuccessfully trying to yank it out! Deokun is trying to stop him, but Wolseon has realized something and pushes him away. "When a monk eats twice a day, that's enough! How much more do you want to eat, if you need to protect these crops from them?" Wolseon calls out to a young boy standing nearby: "Come here, Pyeonjo! Come and help!" So that's Pyeonjo! He and an older woman who's with him (I don't think his mother) help Wolseon and manage to work the post out of its spot. Wolseon topples over, but laughs with triumph and joy. Now all of the markers in the field are being pulled out. Apparently the field belongs to the farmers now, because Wolseon has decided it...Flashback ending, Choseon explains that after her father had lost his lands to the crooks, he heard about Wolseon and what he was doing giving temple lands to the farmers. "So he donated all the land he had left to Gaetae Temple." And adds, "Not long after, he took his own life." So now she doesn't own most of the land that produces her tea, but it's because that was her father's wish.
Now Wolseon, Deokun and Jihyo depart for home. (Sorry, Jihyo was in on this too. Can't keep track of all these monks!) Choseon and Pyeonjo watch them leave. Then the woman turns to Pyeonjo. "You said you wanted to change the world, right?" He smiles, but says nothing. "You know how you can achieve that? It's land. We need to give land back to the farmers for the world to change."
Lady Yoon is in a small carriage, at the heart of a small royal procession on its way to Ganghwa Island. She's urging everyone to hurry along.
Finally she arrives. Oh good grief--she's too late. She goes into the boy's room and finds him under a sheet. Dead. What happened?
Yanjing: Empress Gi is looking over some women. Who are they? Commissioner Park tells her (and us) that "The officials in Goryeo took the opportunity and sent their daughters for His Highness to choose." Ayushiridara peers out with interest from behind a curtain. He's a little young for this just yet (looks like he's about eleven), but that won't stop his mother from pulling the trigger on it if she sees fit. But she's a little distracted by something else--that hairstyle issue that she heard Gongmin is enforcing The Han Chinese have made trouble about the same thing, she says, and now Goryeo too? Seems to be a cause for concern. Then she turns to Park. "Was it you?" You, what? "I'm asking, were you the one who had the former king poisoned?" Park chuckles at that (partly because he almost certainly wouldn't do such a thing on his own, considering his good relationship with the empress), and he adds that "there would be a line of people ready to kill him to gain some power." Now she calls her son forward. "Mother will choose a princess for you. Don't forget that Goryeo blood flows in your veins." Aw come on, mom, let the kid pick for himself already.
Evening, Gaegyeong: Choseon returns to the city, to news of the former king's death--by poisoning! Her subordinate greets her on the main road and urges her to hurry home because there could be trouble on the streets. Just as they turn off the street, a guarded horse-drawn cart carrying the boy's body shows up. Pyeonjo stops and watches it pass, and then kneels to offer a prayer of support for his friend Gongmin.
Gongmin and the ministers are gathered in the Council hall, awaiting the dead former king's return. The coffin arrives, and Gongmin goes out to receive it. He orders the coffin be opened. Guess he has to see for himself. He slowly descends the steps and approaches it. And orders it opened. Yeah, it's him. Of course it moves his uncle to tears. "May the heavens send over my head the flames and brimstone of hell!" The visceral grief of it sets him to screaming.