Press: This is a small series of historians watching movies and chasing dramas.
In March, the second season of Kingdom (Lee Corpse Korea) finally returned. In the context of the global spread of new crown pneumonia, this Korean drama about the epidemic attacking the Korean Peninsula in the overhead time and space seems to have a little more realistic color. Although the time and space and characters in the play are fictions written by Kim Don-hee, she is not groundlessly elevated, but uses many historical stories of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).
Poster for the second season of Kingdom (Lee Corpse Korea).
Zombie resistance and monarchy's loss of morality : The political situation in Korea before and after the Namson War
The main story line of "Kingdom (Lee Corpse Joseon)" is that after the death of the king of Joseon one year, the young princess Cho (known as "princess" when his wife was alive, and only after his death was called "queen") and her father Cho Hak-joo (then the leader of the government) in order to continue to monopolize power, Dr. Lee Seung-hee used a plant called "life and death grass" to resurrect the king. But this is not a resurrection in the true sense of the word, but a state of "zombie" in which the king is transformed. In this way, the Zhao clan could delay the time and let the princess who claimed to be pregnant give birth to a yuanzi smoothly. However, the princess did not become pregnant, but planned to steal the sons of other pregnant women as her own child. At this time, Li Cang, the son of Wang Shizi (王世子), was demoted to Donglai Province (present-day Donglai District, Busan), far from Hanyang. After that, the story revolves around Wang Shizi Li Cang leading the crowd to fight against the spreading zombie plague.
Li Cang led the crowd to fight the spreading zombie plague
Such a historical setting has to be reminiscent of the political situation in Korea before and after the Namshin War (1592-1598).
First, the epidemic began to spread from Donglai to Sangju and other places, and in the play, the donglai envoy, that is, Shizi's teacher Ahn Hyun, used the zombie army to fight against Japan, and successfully blocked the Japanese army from going north at Bungyeong Tori ridge (now part of Bunkyeong, Gyeongsangbuk-do). This is actually partly borrowed from the outbreak route of the Nongchen War. In April 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent Governor Konishi, and Munakatayoshi led the Japanese army to attack Busan. At this time, Busan You's envoy Zheng Pu was hunting on the Island of The Shadow and did not take any defensive measures. Busan then fell, and Jeong Po died in the rebellion. The Japanese then occupied Donglai Province, which killed Song Xiangxian in battle, after which the Japanese army was able to go all the way north. It was not until the end of the year, when the Ming army entered the aid of Korea, that the war situation changed.
In the play, Zhao Xuezhou suggested using the zombie army to fight against the Wokou and stop the Japanese army from going north at the expense of the whole village
Martyrdom map of Busan Town, a korean picture depicting the Japanese landings at Busan during the Nongchen War (originally made in 1709; redrawn in 1760)
Secondly, the king who has become a zombie in the play has to be reminiscent of Li Fu (reigned 1567-1608), the Xuanzu who fled Uiju in a hurry during the war and abandoned the capital and the people. At the end of April of that year, after the news of the Japanese army moving north to Gyeonggi reached Hanyang, Li Fu was greatly alarmed and summoned his ministers to discuss the plan to flee north, but was fiercely opposed. However, Li Fu's mind was already decided, and he decided to go north, and before leaving, he made Li Hun (reigned 1608-1623), the second son of Shu, the second son of Guanghaijun (reigned 1608-1623), the son of the emperor, and asked Li Hun to gather all the qinwang troops and rebels to confront the Japanese army. After Li Fu fled north, the angry North Korean people burned the public and private slave literature collected by the Zhaoliyuan and The Executioner, and went into the internal treasury to rob gold and silver, and burned Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, Changqing Palace, and the books and diaries of the Chengzhengyuan in the Hongbunkan were also reduced to ashes in this riot. It can be seen that when the screenwriter created the image of the King of Joseon and the shizi Li Cang, he referred to the deeds of Li Fu and Li Hun. At the same time, she set the king as a zombie, which can also be interpreted as a satire on Li Fu. In the perception of most Korean people today, Lee Is an incompetent and cowardly king, and the screenwriter Kim Yin-hee set him as a zombie, which will never cause controversy in South Korea, but will make the audience resonate emotionally.
The King of Joseon who was made into a "zombie" in a power struggle
Again, Lee was childless with Queen Yijin of the Park clan, and after her death, Lee married his stepwife Kim (Queen Inmu, 1584-1632). Later, the Jin clan gave birth to a concubine, Li Ji (1606-1614), the Prince of Yongchang, which naturally had an impact on Li Hun's position as the son of the world. It can be said that the background of the story of "Kingdom (Lee Corpse Korea)" frames the political history of Korea from the late sixteenth century to the early seventeenth century.
Foreign relations, vassals, corruption, famine – hotbeds of plague
In addition to using the historical story of the reign of Xuanzu Li Fu, the screenwriters further added the history of the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century to this framework.
After the nineteenth century, the Korean monarchy gradually declined, and the power was controlled by several Powerful Dao families such as the Andong Kim clan and the Tomyang Cho clan. Shido is a Korean term for political power, and Shido is a powerful vassal above tens of millions of people and under a king. At that time, almost all state power was concentrated in the hands of the Taoists, and the king was just a decoration. The Andong Kim clan and the Fengyang Zhao clan have built their own power base through marriage with the royal family. For example, the queens of the Andong Kim clan were Queen Chunyuan (1789-1851) of Chunzu Li (reigned 1800-1834), Queen Xiaoxian of Xianzong Li (reigned 1834-1849), Queen Zheren (1837-1878) of Emperor Zhezong (reigned 1849-1863), and Empress Zhao of Fengyang had Empress Xiaoxian (1828-1843), who was posthumously honored as Queen Shenzhen (1808-1890). Among them, the Andong Kim clan held power for the longest time and was the most famous, and it was not until Queen Shenzhen designated Li Xi, the son of Li Yunying (1820-1898), the prince of the Xingxuan Dynasty, as the next king, that is, Gaozong (reigned 1863-1907) after the death of Jeongjong Lee Seung, ending the reign of the Anton Kim clan. In the late reign of Chunzu Li Wei, he was represented by Li Xuan (1809-1830), the son of Xiaoming Shizi. On the one hand, Li Xu wanted to suppress the power of the Shidao family, and on the other hand, he had to rely on the ministers from these families to handle the government, and it was impossible to completely disregard the position of the royal women, and in the end, Li Xu's efforts to suppress the Shidao family and rebuild the authority of the king did not succeed. After his death, power was still held by powerful families such as the Andong Kim clan, whose families occupied important positions in the court and exacerbated discontent and division within the ruling class. It can be seen that the princess Zhao clan and the Haiyuan Zhao clan in the play are likely to allude to the Shenzhen Queen and the Fengyang Zhao clan, but in the character creation, the shadow of the Anton Kim clan is added. The Anton Kim clan used the usual means of appointing their own clan or dependent people as Bibian Sitang, thus controlling the government. The place where the highest deliberative and decision-making body in the late DPRK, the Bibian Division, held a meeting was the Guest Hall, and such scenes also appeared many times in the play.
In the play, the princess Zhao and the Haiyuan Zhao clan are in power
However, the politics of power was not something that suddenly appeared in the nineteenth century, and the signs of foreign monopoly appeared in Korean politics as early as the late seventeenth century. For example, Emperor Suzong Li (1764-1720) let his uncle Jin Xixin (1634-1684) serve as the most elite army for many years, the capital of the training capital, du ti to control the military power, Li Yan frequent political changes, and there were often Jin Xixin behind him. The Training Capital Was a new type of army established by the DPRK after imitating the Zhejiang Army that had been aided during the Nongchen War, and with reference to Qi Jiguang's book "New Book of Ji Xiao". This institution has also appeared in the play many times, and zhao Xuezhou, the leader of the government, is also known as the promotion of the tune, which should refer to the capital of the training of the capital. This official position also appeared frequently in the institutional setup of North Korea, and as far as the post of consul general was concerned, it was customary to also serve as the transfer of the Bibian Division and the pharmacy (the head of the King's Medical Affairs Group). In the eighteenth century, the korean monarchy was relatively powerful and could still control the expansion of the power of foreign relatives. But after the nineteenth century, when the king ascended the throne, he was too old to be young, and the concubines were able to bow to the government. The Shidao family behind the concubine also controlled the military power by mastering the training capital supervisor, and the training capital supervisor in the play obeyed Zhao Xuezhou, which is also a film and television reproduction of this historical background.
In addition, there is an army called the Imperial Camp Hall in the play. The Imperial Barracks Hall was an army composed mainly of cavalry that was established until 1623, after the training of the capital. In the play, putting the Imperial Camp Office in charge of searching for the death of a civilian pregnant woman imprisoned by the Princess is actually not in line with the practice of the Joseon Dynasty, because the Imperial Camp Office does not intervene in judicial affairs. At that time, the general civil cases were handled by the Arrest and Theft Agency and other agencies responsible for arresting criminals, and the so-called "Three Laws Division" - Xing Cao, Si Xian Fu, and Seoul Fu were responsible for trial, while incidents involving members of the royal family were under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Yi Ban Fu. The Uibanfu was a special judicial body in North Korea, responsible for arresting and interrogating prisoners on the orders of the king, dealing with royal crimes and major cases such as conspiracy against the king. To some extent, the Yibanfu can be understood as the Korean version of the "Jinyiwei", but in most of the historical period, the Shilin faction dominated the Korean political arena, and the power of the Yibanfu was not as great as that of the Ming Dynasty Jinyiwei.
Under the rule of the Shido family, the government became increasingly corrupt, and with the attack of famine and disease, the life of the Korean people became increasingly difficult. At this time, the Korean taxation system, that is, the "three political" systems composed of "field administration", "military government", and "returning the government (the system of the government lending rice and grain to the peasants during the famine year, and returning it together with interest during the harvest)" fell into a state of disorder, coupled with the continuous natural disasters, and even the absurd scenes of "Huangkou Chongding (minors are counted as military servants and taxed)" and "white bone requisition cloth (the dead are listed on the taxation list and collected military cloth)", and the people's lives are extremely difficult. In the first season of the TV series, the female doctor Sophie told the dying people that as long as they waited for the "return valley" (subtitles mistakenly translated as "yellow valley") issued by the imperial court, they could support it for a period of time, in fact, it alluded to the disorder of "returning the government" in the nineteenth century, and the situation that the return of the valley was not issued in time.
The first season explains the background of the famine
In addition, when determining the identity of the dead character in the play, it often refers to the "number plate" marked with the birth year and name of the character. This was the "number plate law" that was in use at that time similar to today's ID card system. This system was proposed as early as the reign of Emperor Taizong Li Fangyuan (1400-1418), but it was not implemented. Later, Li Fangyuan's grandson Li Yan (1455-1468) implemented this law in two classes and good people throughout the country, and from then on, state power began to intervene forcefully in the management of the national body. It should be noted that the Untouchables did not have "number plates", which also meant that the Joseon Dynasty did not regard the Untouchables as "people" at the national level. Korean society attaches great importance to the difference between identity order and concubines, if it is two groups of grandchildren, you can inherit the identity of two classes, if it is a concubine, you will be transferred to a middle-aged person, and you do not have the qualifications to participate in the liberal arts examination, and can only participate in the medical, translation and other miscellaneous disciplines. But if it is a pariah, it will always be a pariah for generations to come. Wu Kuntian (1807-1882), a Qing dynasty man who had many exchanges with the Korean mission to Beijing, once lamented: "(Korea) is a dedicated world valve, with a distinct name and many ranks. Although people have talent and virtue, they cannot be used. Among them, there are different grades, there are two classes, and the soldiers are called the east and west classes. There are sins, and there are the unworthy creatures of the warriors. There are Chinese people, medical officers and translators and the like. There are officials, there are disciples, there is a certain class, and the tenth generation cannot be exempted. In the play, Although Zhao Xuezhou's nephew Zhao Fanba does not learn any skills, with the relationship between the two classes and his uncle, it is easy to get the position of envoy of Donglai Province, which is the embodiment of such social customs.
During the Joseon Dynasty, the identity order was extremely exquisite, and the "surname Zhao" in the play was a privilege
The second season of the series also borrowed the symbols of nineteenth-century historical events several times. When Shizi Li Cang was mistaken for killing the long-dead king, and Princess Zhao had not yet given birth to a son, the Bibian Sitang (i.e., the Tang Shangguan) discussed in the guest hall whether to arrange in advance for the royal family members who might take the throne in advance if the princess gave birth to a daughter. Some officials suggested that consideration could be given to the descendants of Lu Chengjun, who was exiled to Ganghwa Island and died. Lu Chengjun here alludes to Li Yi (1754-1801), the eldest son of Li Huan (李愃), the eldest son of Li Huan ( Li Huan ) . Li was exiled to Ganghwa Island for threatening the royal power of his elder brother Li Qi (1776-1800), and was later implicated and executed for his wife and daughter-in-law's Catholicism. In 1849, Emperor Xianzong died suddenly at the age of 23, without heirs at the time of his death. Rumor has it that the young king died of excessive indulgence due to a long period of alcoholism. After his death, Lee Seung (grandson of Eun Yanjun Lee), who made a living chopping wood on Ganghwa Island, was appointed by Queen Chunwon of the Kim clan as the next king, jeongjong. Li Sheng originally lacked the necessary political education and had no political experience, and during his reign, he relied heavily on the Anton Kim clan to handle government affairs, resulting in the further expansion of the Power of the Anton Kim clan. In addition, An Xuan in the play transformed into a zombie through the "life and death grass" after his death, thus giving Zhao Xuezhou a fatal blow. At this time, An Xuan appeared on his back with the "Shuai" character flag on his back, imitating the flag of General Yu Zaiyuan (1823-1871) who was killed and martyred in the 1871 INVASION OF the Korean Peninsula by American warships. Perhaps in the eyes of Jin Yinji's screenwriter, An Hyun's actions are quite similar to Yu Zaiyuan.
Historical photo: The "Shuai" flag of the martyred Korean general Yu Jae-won. The flag was exhibited as a trophy at the U.S. Naval Academy and was leased back to South Korea in 2007 after long negotiations with the South Korean government.
In the play, An Xuan turned into a zombie to deliver a fatal blow to the traitor Zhao Xuezhou, with the word "Shuai" on his body
The Chinese subtitles that Netflix officially assigned to "Kingdom (Lee Corpse Korea)" use the direct Chinese transliteration of Korean Chinese characters, so the play calls Zhao Xuezhou "Dajian", and this title is also directly transliterated. In fact, in addition to the king's "upper prison," North Korea also has various alternatives to high-ranking officials. Li Guijing of the nineteenth century summed this up as follows:
Today's high official, Zhengqing is called the Grand Supervisor, and also began in the Three Kingdoms. Silla military posts, there are high officials and grand supervisors, team supervisors, great masters, head supervisors and the like, non-military positions do not have this name, and now they are changed to the general name of the civil and military officials. As for the Lingjian, it is the common name of the Tang Shangyu Member. The official of the tangxia is called Jinshi (commonly known as Luo Ali (나으리)), which is unknown. In the Tang Dynasty, Guo Ziyi was zhongshu ling, so the name Guo Linggong was an honorific term. In our country, Yintai (i.e., the ChengzhengYuan) is the Zhongshu, so the name of the Chengzhi is linggong. For more than ten years, the Tongzheng government has been called Linggong(令公), and since ten years, it has not been known as Linggong but as Linggong.'"
That is to say, the term "Great Supervisor" was originally a special name for military attachés, and later it could also be used to refer to the civil and military officials of Yipin and Zhengerpin. The word "Lingjian" may have originated from Guo Ziyi's nickname "Guo Linggong", and "Linggong" gradually changed to "Lingjian" and became a term for the officials of Zhengsanpintang and Cong'erpin. The subordinate officials of the Zhengsan Pin Tang are called "Jinshi". Zhao Xuezhou was in a high position of Zheng Yipin leading the government, and naturally he would be called the "Great Supervisor". The term "Lingjian" is still used in contemporary Korean society and is generally used as an honorific title for older men. The author also noticed that in the Korean drama "Auxiliary Officer", the staff of The South Korean Parliamentary Assembly members do not distinguish between the gender of the members of the National Assembly, but call them "order supervisors" in daily conversations.
The mystery of the source of the "life and death grass" - the trade of Uiju merchants against the Qing Dynasty
At the end of the second season, although Li Cang and others temporarily extinguished the zombie plague and removed the "life and death grass" left in North Korea, in a field search, Li Cang and his party accidentally found that there were North Korean people following the Gulf merchants and purchased the "life and death grass" from China. It can be speculated that the third season of the show is likely to involve two wars between the Qing Dynasty (Later Jin) and Korea in the seventeenth century, namely the "Battle of Ding", and the "Battle of Chengzi". After the Battle of Dingdi in 1627, Korea and Houjin became brothers. After the Battle of Chengzi in 1636, Korea broke away from the tribute system centered on the Ming Dynasty, officially enshrined the Qing Dynasty as Zhengshuo, accepted the qing dynasty's canonization, and became a tributary state of the Qing Dynasty. By the late seventeenth century, relations between the Qing Dynasty had gradually stabilized, and the scale of trade between the two sides had expanded with the stabilization of political relations.
While tracing the mystery of the origin of the "Life and Death Grass", a mysterious figure played by Jeon Ji-hyun appears
The border city of Uiju played a pivotal role in North Korea's trade with the Qing. As far as the North Korean side was concerned, the dominant traders in the Qing trade were Uiju merchants, that is, "bay merchants". Uiju was known as "Dragon Bay" during the Goryeo period. By getting acquainted with the Korean translators who had been envoys to the Qing Dynasty for many years, and bribing border officials, the Merchants gradually gained control over the Qing trade. The Merchants even participated in the mission to Beijing to fully intervene in the trade with the Qing Dynasty. For example, in 1780, the envoy sent by Korea to the Qing Dynasty to celebrate the eightieth birthday of the Qianlong Emperor was accompanied by the Bay merchant Lin Jingzan. The Gulf merchants also linked up with the most powerful merchants in North Korea, Songshang, namely Kaesong (Kaesong nicknamed "Songjing"), and sold imported Qing Dynasty goods to Badao, North Korea through the "Songfang", which was set up by the Song merchants in the key business center of North Korea and the logistics distribution center. The Matsu merchants exported ginseng to Japan and obtained a large amount of silver from Japan, which in turn became the principal for the Matsu merchants to buy Qing dynasty goods and participate in trade with the Qing. In addition, the participation of red ginseng by Koreans, who are popular with the Qing dynasty market, can also be used as the principal of the north Korean trade. In the mid-to-late eighteenth century, the power of the Wan merchants and Song merchants further grew, and colluded with Korean officials to expand trade with the Qing. For example, otter skins were originally one of the Tributes of The Dprk to the Qing Dynasty, and it was also a popular Korean goods in the Qing Dynasty market. Because the trade was very profitable, the Gulf merchants and song merchants colluded with powerful families to secretly buy otter skins in Korea, and then bought off border officials to sell it to the Qing Dynasty in violation of the ban, and even caused the Korean officials to encounter difficulties in raising tribute. Song shang also colluded with the monks who produced Goryeo paper to buy the best quality before the Korean government selected tribute paper, so as to secretly sell it to the Qing Dynasty and make a huge profit.
"Follow the bay merchants to China to make money"
In the case of the prosperity of trade with the Qing Dynasty, a large number of luxury goods continued to flow into Korea, accelerating the spread of the trend of luxury in Korea, and the "frugal" Yingzu Li Fang (reigned 1724-1776) was very unaccustomed to such a trend, and once criticized: "Like the wenshifu family, there are many mink-skinned unknown food." How can luxury be so great? During Li Fu's reign, he repeatedly ordered a "ban on luxury" and forbade the purchase of luxury goods such as "tattooed satin" from the Qing Dynasty. However, the social trend did not change by the king's ban, and by the nineteenth century, this trend was further aggravated. According to the records of the Korean Yan exercise:
Yu tasted into the swallow, saw that among the translators and the Qunhu trade, there is no one health care daily necessities, all of which are strange goods with jade fragrant satin, and a branch of coral, a piece of amber, the price is thirty or forty silver, there is a tassel, made of honey flowers and called for silver eighty two, smoking one, the price of real jade, and the price of silver twenty-two, Yu Wai bought, can not be such. The hungry must not be millet, the cold must not be a sock, and foreign countries, years and years to trade, useful for useless harm, the sick people of the country, who makes it so? 40,000 pounds of red ginseng, after all, belong to this kind of exchange. Whenever I saw the Gyeongjong Street (now the area around Jongno in Seoul), there were department stores and entertainers, and tai half came from the Yandu Glass Factory.
Obviously, the two classes of the DPRK are not accustomed to such a trend of luxury, and believe that the prosperity of trade with the Qing Dynasty is not conducive to the national economy and people's livelihood of the DPRK. But in fact, the items purchased by The DPRK from the Qing Dynasty were not limited to luxury goods, and books were also bulk items purchased by the DPRK from the Qing Dynasty at that time. Catholic books, including knowledge of the astronomical calendar, and books on Qianjia's examinations, flowed into Korea, bringing about the possibility of new changes in the development of The Korean intellectual circles. At the same time, for the translators, merchants, etc. involved in the trade, the Qing trade gave them a perfect opportunity to settle down and accumulate wealth if they were excluded from the career of the Imperial Examination. At that time, North Korea's rich people were often translators, so it was not surprising that people in the play would say: "Follow the Bay merchants to China to make money".