(This drama is based on historical events,)
(but some details may be different from historical facts.)
(Production guidelines were strictly followed when filming with animals.)
(Episode 16)
We will wait for the scouts here.
You may take a breather.
There are a lot of them indeed.
We keep slashing them, but they keep on coming.
Are you getting tired?
Not at all.
I would get tired if I had to harvest rice with a sickle,
but cutting off the heads of the Khitan rats will never tire me out.
Hang in there, all of you.
Today is our last chance.
They will be out of this mountain by tomorrow.
Once we lose them, we cannot fight no matter how much we wish to fight them.
- Do you all understand? - Yes, Officer Yang.
Here comes a scout!
The Khitan army is here.
They were spotted dragging some captives over the ridge.
How many captives?
Around 30.
Most of them are women and children.
Then they must be the last batch of captives.
Yes, I believe so.
Come along.
The thing is,
- there is something fishy about it. - What is it?
There is only a small group of Khitan soldiers.
There are about ten of them. That is it.
What if this is a trap?
To them, captives are considered the most valuable war prize.
I agree that this might be a trap.
I suggest we pull back here this time.
Yes, it would be too dangerous to launch an attack on them now.
Then we will lose our only chance to save the captives.
However...
We cannot desert them.
They must be desperately waiting for us now.
Pluck up your courage.
They are the last batch of captives.
We must save them even if we have to endanger our lives to do so.
Do you all understand?
- Yes, well understood. - Yes, well understood.
Let us go.
Kim Sook Heung.
They will show up very soon. Nock your arrow.
Get down! Everybody, get down!
Get them!
Is everyone all right?
Run.
There are more of them.
Find their leader.
We just need to find their leader.
A whistling arrow.
- He must be their leader. - Shoot him!
Retreat!
Go after the leader!
Retreat!
Hang in there!
Get up.
Come on!
- Gosh! - Oh, no!
- My baby... - My goodness.
- Let us go. - Thank you.
This way!
Hurry.
Darn it.
That was a whistling arrow. Follow the whistling arrow!
Darn it.
Retreat.
Pull back!
Kill them all!
We will stop here.
- Captain Park. - Yes?
Take the people out of this mountain.
All right. Understood.
Now then, follow me.
You should go with them.
Thank you.
Go ahead.
Shoot!
Give it back.
Right.
Officer Yang!
It is the Khitan's main army led by the Khitan emperor.
There seem to be at least 30,000.
They are right over that slope.
Officer Yang...
He dodged the trap.
My apologies.
What a brave man.
If he surrenders now,
he is to be treated with respect.
Everyone...
will become my subject!
I will accept you as soldiers...
of the almighty Khitan army!
Hurry, Deok.
Let us go.
Let us advance!
All of you have fought very well.
Everyone will remember how courageous you were.
The whole nation will remember it.
All mountains and streams will too.
Goryeo...
will remember your bravery forever!
The pleasure...
has been mine.
Officer Yang.
This is our last battle.
Head towards the Khitan emperor.
Everyone is to charge towards his head until the end.
Understood?
- Yes! - Yes!
It is 300 paces.
(300 paces: 480m)
Kill every single one of them!
Your Majesty. Archers should be sent.
Two hundred paces.
(200 paces: 320m)
Send in the infantry.
Send in 3,000 more.
Attack his neck!
Kim Sook Heung...
Kim Sook Heung!
One hundred paces.
(100 paces: 160m)
One hundred paces!
Attack!
Our men are afraid.
Shield the King!
He is ten paces beyond reach.
Ten paces.
Ten.
Let me go!
Nine.
Eight.
Your Majesty.
Archers,
fire!
Seven!
Archers!
Left General!
Six.
What a tenacious fool.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Yang Kyu!
(Yang Kyu fought seven battles in one month...)
(without reinforcements, cutting down many enemy soldiers,)
(and rescuing around 30,000 civilian prisoners.)
(Yang Kyu and Kim Sook Heung...)
(were shot so many times that they looked like hedgehogs...)
(when they died side by side.)
(From Biography of Yang Kyu, Goryeo History Volume 94)
(Heunghwajin)
What? Is that true?
Yes. He fought the army of the Khitan king,
and with his men,
he died on the battlefield.
(Goryeo)
Where is the Khitan king?
Heading toward the Yalu River.
We will set out.
Gather all our men.
Yes, sir.
So this is how it ends.
I failed to subdue Goryeo.
And I failed to subdue him.
Giddy-up!
Your Majesty. The Goryeo army is behind us.
They are attacking the tail end of our entourage.
They keep biting us to the end.
Your Majesty. We must go on.
Yes.
Go on.
- Keep going. - Go on.
- Come on! - Giddy-up!
Giddy-up!
Where is the Khitan king?
Where is he?
He crossed the river already.
The Khitan army is gone!
- Is that true? - Yes.
They left, crossing the Yalu River.
They all left without leaving a single man behind!
We are saved!
- We are saved! - Hooray!
- Cheer for Goryeo! - Hooray!
- Thank you.
Cheer for Goryeo!
- Seok. - Father.
Seok.
- We are saved! - Hooray!
Cheer for Goryeo!
- Hooray! - We are saved!
- Hooray! - Hooray for our army!
Cheer for our army!
- No, please... - I do not believe this.
- No... - Oh, dear.
(Kim Hoon, Left and Right Army General)
(Choi Jil, Deputy General)
Stop.
You ended up...
breathing your last alongside him.
Now,
get some sleep.
You fought hard.
Get some sleep now, General.
My brother!
(Naju)
The reason Goryeo cannot win this war...
is not because Goryeo is weak.
The regional lords are to blame...
for we could not join forces because of them.
In order to win against Khitan,
we must subdue the regional lords first.
Our priority is to win the war against them first.
Your Majesty.
The Commander of Aesoojin is here.
He said the Deputy Minister of Rites sent him. He is here from Gaegyeong.
Gaegyeong?
Yes, Your Majesty. You may enter.
Your Majesty, the Khitan army is retreating.
Is that true?
Yes, Your Majesty.
They have already left Gaegyeong and have begun to withdraw all troops.
All of them must have crossed the Yalu River by now.
Your Majesty.
You should return to Gaegyeong now.
Here is Your Majesty's imperial robe.
Who sent this?
I received it from the governor of Gongju on my way here.
He said his daughter made it for Your Majesty.
Your Majesty, a local physician is here to examine you.
Please check my pulse.
Perhaps it is because I have never taken such a long journey before.
I am not feeling well at all.
Since this morning,
I have not felt the baby move at all.
Yes, Your Majesty.
Please allow me to check your pulse.
What is wrong?
Tell me at once.
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news,
but I can only feel your pulse.
It appears that you have lost your child.
That cannot be true.
Try again.
You will feel my child's pulse.
Now!
Yes, Your Majesty.
Please forgive me.
I cannot detect the child's pulse.
Your Majesty.
You must give birth even if it is a stillbirth.
Keeping the baby in your womb...
will endanger Your Majesty's health.
Your Majesty...
It is a son.
He is the Crown Prince.
You are truly pretty, my son.
You look like His Majesty.
Your Majesty...
Your Majesty!
Your Majesty...
Your Majesty!
(Gongju)
Father.
Welcome.
His Majesty accepted the garment.
Is that so?
Yes.
Did His Majesty accept you?
He accepted you, Father.
Are you sure?
Yes. His Majesty is on his way here.
Help me get up.
- Will you be all right? - Hurry.
Understood.
Bring me my uniform.
I beg you. Please stay still.
You are not going anywhere in that state.
Bring it now.
Good grief.
My lady.
Stop there! You little...
How dare you... Stop!
Darn it. What an unlucky day.
Good gracious.
Your Majesty.
Deputy Minister Kang...
In 1,011 A.D.,
February of the lunar calendar, the second year of Hyeonjong's reign,
the emperor ended his royal flight and returned to Gaegyeong.
(Suchanggung, a secondary imperial palace outside the Emperor's Palace in Gaegyeong)
And he took the first difficult step...
to bring Goryeo back up.
Yoo Jin is appointed to Second Rank Palace Secretariat,
Choi Hang to Chancellory Scholar,
Kang Gam Chan to Third Rank Hallim Academician,
and Yoo Bang to Minister of Defense.
For attending the emperor, Chae Chung Soon is appointed as Privy Councilor,
Choi Sa We as Junior Second Rank Advisor,
Jang Yeon Woo as Head of the Inspector General,
Ji Chae Moon as Fourth Rank General,
and Hwangbo Yu Eui as Officer of the Inspector General.
For fighting hard against the enemy,
Kim Hoon is appointed as Head of the Central Army,
Choi Jil as General,
and Kang Min Cheom as Officer of Rites.
Tak Sa Jung...
is appointed as Right Secretariat-Chancellery.
Park Seom is appointed as Third Rank of the Marine.
And having died in battle,
Yang Kyu is respected as Minister of Works,
Kim Sook Heung as General,
and Beopeon as the most reverend priest.
All subjects are to honor their distinguished military service...
and cherish the memories of the deceased.
- Yes, Your Majesty. - Yes, Your Majesty.
And...
find the soldiers who have died in battle, bury their bodies,
and hold ancestral rites for them.
In addition,
work on a plan to help families that have lost their family heads...
make a living.
- Yes, Your Majesty. - Yes, Your Majesty.
It was such a horrible war.
Please work hard to rebuild this country...
as soon as possible.
- Yes, Your Majesty. - Yes, Your Majesty.
Well then,
today's council will end here.
Your Majesty!
You cannot end it here!
There are many who have sinned on the battlefield.
Please punish them without mercy at once, Your Majesty.
He is right, Your Majesty.
Even during your royal flight,
many have committed crimes.
Please punish them severely as well.
I will not punish them.
I will forgive them all.
"Forgive them," Your Majesty?
That is unacceptable.
Your Majesty.
Tak Sa Jung...
abandoned Seogyeong and ran away.
Park Seom abandoned Yongju and fled.
If you do not wish to punish those who committed such shameful deeds,
whom will you punish?
I will punish no one.
I will forgive everyone.
Your Majesty!
They abandoned our fortresses!
They deserted our people.
I, too, abandoned my people and fled.
Who am I to punish anyone?
Your Majesty!
Those of you who have done wrong...
will have to deeply repent of your own accord.
Every single day, you will remind yourself of what you did and repent.
Do not forget.
I am not forgiving you unconditionally.
I am giving you...
one last chance.
Do whatever it takes...
to wash away your sins before you die.
I will...
do the same.
Why are you looking at me like that?
What?
His Majesty has forgiven me.
You must obey His Majesty's orders.
Then please excuse me.
How dare you!
What is happening?
Why is His Majesty being like this?
I am not sure either.
My goodness.
How lamentable.
General, the look on your face tells me that you wish to tell me something too.
No, Your Majesty.
It is okay. Go ahead and tell me.
(Ji Chae Moon, Fourth Rank General)
No, Your Majesty.
Let us go, then.
"Third Rank Hallim Academician?"
Yes, apparently.
My goodness.
This means that he can become a chancellor in the near future.
Your long-awaited wish has come true.
I must say, I am not happy about it.
What?
I know you nearly died, and so did he.
Even as the Deputy Minister of Rites,
he has had to look death in the face several times.
Right, that is true.
You see, I no longer care for the chancellor title.
All I want is...
for peace to reign on this soil.
So he plans to punish no one?
Correct. His Majesty clearly announced so.
That is unacceptable.
His Majesty plans to forgive those who betrayed Goryeo?
Then who will fight for Goryeo now?
Exactly, I agree with you.
However, His Majesty has already made up his mind,
so there is not much we can do.
Anyway,
how are you feeling?
I have almost recovered.
I can walk on my own now.
Then return to the court as soon as possible.
You must persuade His Majesty.
I am afraid His Majesty would be isolated forever at this rate.
All the court officials will turn their backs on His Majesty.
I cannot wrap my head around it.
He had a burning ambition to win the war.
How could he have mercy on those...
who turned their backs before the enemy and ran away?
I think I can understand why His Majesty made such a decision.
The guilt of failing to protect Gaegyeong...
must still be haunting His Majesty.
He should be capable of overcoming such guilt on his own.
The ruler being shaken up like this...
can put the country in peril.
Tell me. How is my empress doing?
Is she...
still devastated?
Yes, Your Majesty.
Her Majesty is still struggling to pull herself together.
Stop crying.
It was not your fault.
Then whose fault was it?
My baby in my womb...
I lost my child, who was quietly curled up in my womb,
relying solely on me.
Sister.
Do you remember this place?
This is where we first met upon my return to Gaegyeong.
Yes, I remember.
Back then,
I was just a puppet emperor who was put on the throne...
by the vassal...
who assassinated the former emperor.
I was terrified, trapped in the palace...
where I had no one to rely on.
But you...
gave me the courage I needed.
Without you,
I would not have been able to hold out,
which is why you are the most precious person to me.
I am truly grateful that I did not lose you.
Your Majesty.
To tell you the truth,
I, too, shed many tears behind closed doors.
I, too,
was looking forward to meeting our child.
I could not wait to meet...
and touch our child.
The image of myself walking with him, holding his hand.
I imagined it many times.
However,
I had to let him go without holding him once.
The loss is too great to bear.
Your Majesty.
But I will stay strong and endure this pain.
I can hold out if I have you by my side.
So I ask you to do the same.
Stay strong and hold out for my sake.
Please do not cry.
Our child...
will be reincarnated in a better place.
In a more peaceful place.
He will live a happy life.
(Korea-Khitan War)
We rushed here as per His Majesty's order.
I heard the governor of Gongju sent his daughter...
to His Majesty's bedchamber when His Majesty was staying there.
I will subdue every single regional lord on Goryeo's soil.
That cannot be done.
We absolutely cannot obey such an order.
We will not sit silently and let them walk all over us.
We must join forces.
Academician Kang is one of the regional lords.
If you fail to persuade him,
you will have to oust him.
(Subtitles are provided by KOCOWA.)