Post by ajk on Jan 18, 2014 0:07:56 GMT -5
Evening: Gongmin is told by Eunuch Choi that the queen is crying, so loudly she can be heard outside her palace. But nobody seems to know why. Gongmin stands right up and heads right over there.
The queen dowager gets the same news, from Lady Kim...but of course her reaction is "How contemptible!" Sheesh. But she does tell Lady Kim to go find out what's going on.
From outside Gongmin calls out to his wife, asking what's the matter. Not sure if he's concerned or annoyed, or maybe both. But to his credit, he doesn't just barge in on her. He doesn't need to, though, because she opens the front door for him. To his shock, she's standing there wearing mourner's white.
Princess Deoknyeong visits the QD and tells her that the queen can't possibly be crying so loudly for no reason. Let's just wait and get the whole story, she says with a calming smile.
Lady Kim arrives at the palace and asks around, but the junior staff she's asking doesn't know anything.
Noguk is putting on a brave face, to say the least. She wants to receive her husband politely and even offers to pour him a drink. "Tell me what happened first," he answers. She starts talking in riddles, and then tells him, "This is an auspicious day, Your Majesty. So accept this drink." He does, if only to get her to come clean.
"The Queen is serving drinks to His Majesty?" That's all Lady Kim can tell her employer. Who gets all huffy about the queen, of course.
"My father in Yanjing sent me a message." Gongmin is glad to hear it; hopes he's doing well. Not exactly..."You always felt trepidation because of my father, right? Because Empress Gi was holding my father hostage, every time you saw Lord Deokseong, my father must have come to mind." Gongmin chuckles awkwardly and ducks it. "I never thought that far," he says, but then admits he was aware of what was happening. "Now," she tells him calmly, "you can feel at ease and slay Lord Deokseong. My father is no longer part of this world." His eyes widen. "Speak to me! How did your father perish?" But she has no desire to share the details. I can't bury him myself, she says, but on the day that Goryeo gains its independence from the Yuan, I'll properly grieve his passing. Gongmin hugs her and pledges to "avenge your father's tears of blood without fail" and tells her he'll absorb all of her grief for her. We don't know how well Gongmin knew the King of Wei, but whether for him or only for his wife, he's deeply affected by the news.
Yanjing: Prince Deokheung and his associate Choi Yu are at the imperial palace. Choi tells the prince of "an opportunity" to possibly get the throne for himself soon, but the prince again complains that "I said I have no interest in that" and that "I enjoy my current life."
"How could you let the King of Wei take his own life like that?" Well we knew Empress Gi wouldn't be happy about this at all...but scolding Commissioner Park about it seems a little silly. Park actually chuckles just a tiny bit, and with a smile asks her, "How can you stop someone bent on meeting his demise?" This was bound to happen eventually, he tells her. And he suggests testing Goryeo immediately, by asking for some troops to help them fight the Red Turban rebellion. "If they end up sending troops, it means they will not use the King of Wei's death against us." She seems to like the idea; at least it calms her down. (Still, maybe she ought to be thinking about getting her brother out of Goryeo first!)
Park leaves her and goes to talk to Choi Yu. "Discreetly establish a connection with Ssangseong Commandery's Jo So Saeng," he instructs. "We might need to invade Goryeo." The prince is still there too, but Park clearly has nothing but disdain for him and doesn't even bother talking to him.
Gi Cheol is brought the news of the King of Wei's death by Kwon Gyeom, his associate, who's much more worried about it than Gi is. Kwon has to explain to him exactly what it means as far as putting Gi's life at risk. Gi is worried at first, but then bucks up and feels more confident. And now he has an idea. "I'll take a gambler's chance, and stake my life on it!" Whatever that means....
Councilors have come to visit Queen Noguk and pay their respects. But she won't let them in. She's removed her white garment and tells them from outside that "I won't hold any rites until I see my father's body. One day I shall go to Yanjing," she continues. "I shall follow His Majesty to Yanjing after he leaves a trail of victorious battles behind, and take care of my father's body--and only then accept your condolences." (For a long time she's known that her father very well may end up dead over all of this political stuff, so it wasn't a shock to her when it happened...but still, she should at least observe some basic protocol and receive her guests. Looks like she may be going through some grief denial.)
So there. The councilors leave. "She's really a scary woman," Lee Je Hyeon mutters. But Lee In Bok says firmly that they need to make her wish possible. Ridiculous, says Yeom Je Shin, but Jung Se Woon points out that "Originally the Yuan were Mongol nomads. What is the reason Goryeo can't conquer the Middle Kingdom?" Interesting that the two younger men are much more receptive to Noguk's idea than the two older men are.
Well she wouldn't let the ministers in but she does let Princess Deoknyeong in. Deoknyeong looks sort of worn down, and surprises Noguk by telling her she's going to go back to Yanjing. And confesses that Empress Gi had sent her here to keep an eye on what was happening in Goryeo. Which the queen sort of suspected: "I saw the throes of sorrow engulfing your eyes." Not sure if Deoknyeong feels any guilt over what's happened, and we don't really know much information she's been sending back to the empress--if any--but she tearfully apologizes. Noguk isn't angry and insists that the princess stay here. "Neither you nor I have a hometown that will welcome us," she tells Deoknyeong, smiling and taking her hand, "so Goryeo is our new homeland. Stay by my side." Deoknyeong is deeply moved that Noguk would be so gracious and understanding about all this.
Gaegyeong, state council meeting: Uh-oh, a Yuan envoy is here to deliver an imperial edict. Hey, wait a minute, that's no envoy, that's Choi Yu! Wow, seems like a very turncoat-y thing to do. Gongmin takes the scroll and snaps it open with the same look of disdain he had last time he opened one (very funny). He scans it over. "Send troops, you say?" Choi explains that the Yuan is asking Goryeo "as a sign of acknowledgement of the benevolence they enjoyed from their brother nation." The word "benevolence" sets off an angry buzzing among the councilors...but Gongmin is more methodical. We'll discuss it, he tells Choi, and you can wait outside for our answer.
Jung Se Woon follows Choi outside and starts shouting and calling him a traitor. But Choi makes an insulting crack about King Gongmin and now Jung's subordinates are holding him back as Choi meanders away. "I'll pulverize that mongrel to smithereens!" Easy, dude....
Choi goes straight to Gi Cheol's estate and tells him all about what's happening. And cautions him, "This is our last chance. If Goryeo will reinforce the troop deployment, we shall be victorious. If they ever refuse, we shall all be visited by the Grim Reaper!" Which sets off a truly impressive flurry of twitching and grunting by Gi. What a nut.
Back in the council hall...they're in a quandary. They don't really have extra troops to send. If they did, as Jung Se Woon points out, they'd be using them against the Japanese pirates causing trouble in the south. But Yeom Je Shin argues that the Yuan will "grow suspicious of our actions" if Goryeo turns them down flat.
Gongmin has left the council to its deliberations and is with his wife. He's agitated and nervous about the whole thing. She urges him to stay calm. "Our path will be arduous and drawn-out, so you need to walk with prudence." He looks at her and asks plaintively, "Will you wait for me?" He's VERY concerned about what she thinks of all this, to say the least. "Of course I will," she answers without hesitation. The answer brightens and calms him. "Yes, have trust in me. I shall make all your wishes come true."
Now Lee Je Hyeon and Lee In Bok are discussing the problem in a separate room. Everything seems to be boiling down to the 30,000 troops at the Ssangseong Commandery. Goryeo needs to execute Gi Cheol and his collaborators, but Lee Je Hyeon fears that the Yuan would order the commandery to invade Goryeo even if Goryeo agreed to provide the troops they're requesting now. Lee In Bok points out that most of the commandery troops are Goryean, and even if the Yuan ordered them to attack--which they likely can't, considering their own difficulties and military needs--well, "Would they aim their spears and swords at their brethren?" But Lee Je Hyeon wouldn't put any hopes on that. "The Goryeo people stationed in Ssangseong Commandery are nothing more than turncoats who stabbed their motherland in the back. How can we possibly trust them?"
Gaetae Temple: Deokun has snagged a bit of that beef jerky somehow and indulges himself...until Won Hyeon shows up and startles him. Why is Won here again? To bring Pyeonjo back to Gaegyeong; the palace is asking for him. But it turns out that Pyeonjo's gone already. Which Won doesn't learn until Master Wolseon spots him and starts yelling at him for running away like he did. Tough luck there. He tells Deokun, "If you let Won Hyeon escape under your eyes again, you shall live inside the caves for a year." And Won is right there...so what's can he do, really. Stuck there again, at least for now.
Outside of the Gi estate, the Gis are giving stuff away. Food and cloth, mainly. People are hesitant at first but then swoop in like vultures. Gi Cheol and his brother watch this from a distance. Gi Ryun doesn't understand why Cheol is "wasting" the stuff, but Cheol laughs. "We can just get them back later!" Not sure exactly how he plans to do that...but remember, opening up his private coffers like this is part of his plan to cripple the nation's economy. Pyeonjo is standing in the street and watches this happening...
...and He goes and tells Choseon about it. He actually chuckles about it. "Every collaborator is trying to beat each other at the same game," he says, so obviously it isn't just Gi Cheol doing this. "Thanks to them, the people are finally enjoying some respite." But Choseon is wiser about this kind of thing. "If they rout His Majesty out of power, then they shall get everything back tenfold." And then cynically adds that the royals and their court officials are no better!
It's late at night, and Pyeonjo has gone to the palace. He's inside a room and kneeling before Inspector Kim, who sits there silently squinting at him. Then he tosses Pyeonjo a bundle. "Put those on." Clothes are inside it. A much nicer robe than the slightly shabby one he's wearing. "You shall never enter the palace with tattered garments," Kim says, "so wear this instead." Gee that was nice of him. He's a real softie inside, maybe? Probably not....Anyway, Pyeonjo puts on the robe and is taken someplace different this time--because it isn't his friend Gongmin who's asked for him, it's the queen! He's startled at first, but then he smiles, undoubtedly recalling their meeting in Yanjing. He meets Eunuch Choi for the first time and is escorted towards the queen's palace.
Gong Cheol and Choseon's head subordinate apparently saw some of this, and go tell Choseon about it. They seem troubled by it, but she thinks it's great news.
Eunuch An meets Pyeonjo outside of the queen's palace. (Note: This sequence is a slightly different edit of a sequence we saw in Episode 1.) They were friendly in Yanjing, remember. He fills Pyeonjo in on what's been happening, and leads him inside. Noguk is at a table, studying government records. Specifically, records of the crushing tribute demands that the Yuan have been forcing upon Goryeo for years. And the starvation and suffering that they've caused. "If this keeps up," she asks Pyeonjo, moved to tears by what she's learned, "how can Goryeo possibly survive? The entire records of your past kings are stained with these outrageous tributes. What a great country--resisting all this time despite all that usurpation." And she notes the posthumous titles of recent kings, that they begin with "Chung," meaning "loyalty." To the Yuan. She certainly won't accept that happening to her husband. "Help His Majesty," she urges. "His Majesty gave me his word. That he shall confer about state affairs with you, and then make a decision." Pyeonjo is more than a little surprised by all this. "Why do you trust me so much, Your Majesty?" Because, she answers, you can "gather the people's strength" so that Goryeo can repel the Yuan once and for all.
Next morning, Gaetae Temple: Things are back to normal. Won Hyeon is doing yardwork and Wolseon and Deokun are bickering. Bickering about the trip to Gaegyeong they're about to take. Sensing an opportunity, Won runs over and picks Wolseon up piggyback-style and says he'll carry the old man all the way there himself.
Lee In Bok is here to see the king. He's surprised to hear that the king is with a monk, but Eunuch Choi at brings him inside the building.
Gongmin is in his office, talking to Pyeonjo. He's happy and laughing. Amazing what a positive effect Pyeonjo has on his spirits. Lee is announced. Gongmin bids him enter and then introduces the two strangers to each other. Wonder what Lee is thinking. Good poker face; can't tell.
Wow, will miracles never cease--the old battleaxe is actually being kind to Noguk. Noguk has paid the queen dowager a visit, and her mother-in-law is nothing but sympathetic about the loss of Noguk's father. But then that all goes away in a big hurry, because Noguk not only won't talk about it, she drops a bomb by asking her if she'll allow Lee Hyebi to become Gongmin's consort! "No matter how hard I try," she explains, "I don't think I will be able to bear a child. Wouldn't that be a grave misdeed to His Majesty's legacy?" Which is exactly what the QD has been arguing all along...but is this the time for that? Her sympathy evaporates. "That is such a contemptible thing to hear, for someone in mourning." (And it really is; Noguk should have picked a less startling time to bring it up.) But the QD grudgingly agrees with her.
Noguk returns home, and a shocked Eunuch An ventures to ask her, "How could you say that?" But she's actually been thinking about a lot more than just that. "If His Majesty is to prevail in our fight against the Yuan," she tells An, "he should dethrone me and proclaim a new queen." This again? "If Goryeo gains its independence, and he still keeps a Mongol princess as his queen, what would become of His Majesty? Much more importantly, the people will not follow him." Gongmin has explained to her why he must protect her, but she won't let go of it.
And now we get another bomb. Pyeonjo is sitting in front of Gongmin and delivering an absolutely spot-on political analysis and a set of bold, comprehensive recommendations. It's jaw-dropping stuff; we knew Pyeonjo was a smart guy but we've never heard anything like the policy-wonk stuff he's rattling off. You can give the Yuan their troops, he says, but only to buy time. And you can't let Gi Cheol and his collaborators skate along any longer while they wait for you to slip up and lose your throne. All of that stuff they're giving away, "trying to gain the public's favor"? They don't really care about the people; they're "preparing for a future confrontation with Your Majesty." But don't worry about the public; they may be taking those goods, but they'll never ally themselves with the collaborators--because they see all the goods and they know that it's all "their own sweat and blood, which were stolen from them." And he's urging Gongmin to order the collaborators--and the government officials, and the wealthy clans--to give up part of their land holdings. Specifically, the land which used to belong to commoners. He points out that "more than nine of ten slaves that the powerful clans are controlling were originally commoners" and that the clans "stole their land and degraded them to slavery." And not only that, "You should reinstate their social rank back to what it used to be as well." Good heavens, this is a stunning display of political acumen. Lee In Bok patiently listens to it, keeping quiet but looking a little baffled by this strange person who has Gongmin's favor. Eventually he says he agrees with Pyeonjo's assessment of the situation but doubts that getting land back from government officials will be an easy task. Nevertheless, Gongmin is thrilled with Pyeonjo's insight and enthusiastically agrees to all of his recommendations.
"Do you really plan to keep that promise?" Pyeonjo has left, and now Lee In Bok is looking at Gongmin like he's crazy. But Gongmin knows he needs a stronger citizenry if Goryeo will ever repel the Yuan. He challenges Lee (the state finance minister), "The last ceremonial feast we organized depleted our state coffers in half. What are we going to use to fight off the Yuan?"
Wolseon, Deokun and Won Hyeon arrive at Choseon's estate to find some sort of a celebration going on--a big meal that lots of people are being served out in the front yard. Wolseon and Deokun head for the royal temple while Won Hyeon heads inside, convinced that this is a celebration for Pyeonjo being named to some important government position. Wrong, as he finds out. He walks in on a meeting of the Tea Party subversives; Pyeonjo is there and explaining to these wealthy businessmen about how they're going to have to cough up--which is what Choseon is doing right now--if the country wants to fight the Yuan, and that "If the country gains its independence, His Majesty shall reward you." It's a tough sell; apparently this kind of thing has been pitched to them before but nothing ever came of it except for the businessmen losing money. They don't like it at all. Lots of angry complaining.
Wolseon and Deokun reach the royal temple. Wolseon wants to see Master Bou. "Let's see what this Royal Preceptor looks like!"
Now Pyeonjo has to remind the businessmen of something. "If we don't help him, His Majesty shall lose this war." And then not only will he lose the throne, it likely will fall into the hands of the Gi clan. And with Gi Cheol's greed, he'll bleed you all dry. THAT scares them and now their tone changes. At least they're being more open-minded now.
"I never heard that Buddha, during his lifetime, adorned his robes with gold." Wolseon is sitting across from Master Bou, who's wearing gold- trimmed garments. "As our people are starving on the streets, would Buddha enjoy seeing you don those golden garments?" Let's get our nation's problems fixed and help the people first, he challenges Bou, before we start wearing fancy clothes. Bou chuckles at that and answers, "If we could only bring this country back to its glory days, I would offer my entire body in return!" It's not particularly funny, and it certainly isn't an answer to Wolseon's scolding, but now they're both laughing like crazy at it. Weird, but you at least hope the old man's point got across.
"We shall grant your wish. Listening to you, we reacted too foolishly. No matter how much it takes, we shall fund the campaign against the Yuan!" Wow those businessmen REALLY do not like Gi Cheol. They're all promising to work together for the nation's benefit. "We need to unite to survive, after all." Choseon smiles, and so does Won. All this talk about Pyeonjo being able to unite the people and get them behind their king, looks like there's a lot to it after all.
And yet another stunner: Jung Se Woon has brought someone into the palace. It's Kim Yong. In his old uniform. Not only is he in the palace again, but Gongmin reinstated him! Wow, that's quite a gesture, considering how betrayed Gongmin had felt. "Never turn your back on him again," Jung snarls. From his sheepish expression, Kim doesn't need to be told that.
Gongmin did decide to send troops to the Yuan. Now he's bidding them farewell. "We shall not lose a single Goryeo soldier," he says, in the form of an instruction but sounding more like a hopeful wish. "Bear this in mind. The blood of our people shan't be shed in vain!" He sounds good saying it; seems more and more like a king all the time, doesn't he.
And now look at all of the activity in the market, and all of the goods being taken home by citizens. Apparently this is part of what Pyeonjo set in motion; that's what Lee In Bok tells Lee Je Hyeon as Lee Je Hyeon watches the scene in amazement. "With a single word, he made all this possible? He's a most prodigious specimen."
Gongmin and Noguk are having a meal with Pyeonjo and Choseon. Apparently Choseon and her associates have given generously to the government--so generously that Gongmin says "we shan't worry about supplies any longer." He thanks Pyeonjo, but Pyeonjo defers credit to Choseon. Gongmin laughs. "And I thought I was the only one who had a general by my side!" Which is a pretty darned funny thing for a king to say....