Six Flying Dragons Ep. 37~38 Q&A
Q1. I don’t understand who was Lady Ahn a.k.a. Queen Dowager? How comes she had so much power for Yi Seong-Gye’s men could receive a petition from her? Lady Ahn / Queen Dowager is King Gongmin’s consort. She deposed King U and enthroned King Chang with Yi Saek and Jo Min-Soo in SFD episode 22. She was regarded as the highest member of Goryeo’s royal family at that time, so the ministers petitioned Queen Dowager (Lady Ahn) for the deposition of King Gongyang. She was a puppet of the politicians after all.
Q2. Why do the princes get other names instead of their real names? Is it like prince 1st, 2nd and etc? Almost every royal family members in East Asian history have official royal titles beside their full names. For example, here is the names of Goryeo’s last king. His full name : Wang Yo 왕요 王瑤
His official royal title : Prince Jeongchang 정창군 定昌君
His posthumous name as the king : King Gongyang 공양왕 恭讓王 Likewise, here is the names of Yi Bang-Won.
His full name : Yi Bang-Won 이방원 李芳遠
His official royal title : Prince Jeongan 정안군 靖安君
His posthumous name as the king : King Taejong 태종 太宗 His son, King Sejong the Great
His full name : Yi Do 이도 李裪
His official royal title : Prince Chungnyeong 충녕대군 忠寧大君
His posthumous name as the king : King Sejong 세종 世宗
Q3. Historically, does it then mean Yi Seong-Gye never had any intention of passing the throne to Yi Bang-Won? Was it, as in the drama, because of his hand in Poeun’s death, or simply because he doted on the sons of Queen Sindeok more? History says Yi Seong-Gye’s first choice was Yi Bang-Beon (the 7th son). We don’t know exactly why he favored him over other grown-up sons. Maybe, as an invincible warrior, Yi Seong-Gye was too much confident that he could choose any son he wanted? Or, he just wanted to start the new dynasty with a pure and innocent prince? Of course, Sageuk drama writers love to describe it as his disappointment about Bang-Won who killed his best friend Poeun, but I’m not sure about this.
Q4. One thing that puzzles me is the abdication of the throne to their successors… first by King Taejo, then even King Taejong did it too. From what I was given to understand, King Taejo’s abdication was due to the horror that his sons would kill each other for the throne after the first Strife of the Princes. Yet, why did King Taejong abdicate 18 years after ascending to the throne, especially since he was still the one who held the real power behind the throne? King Taejong (Yi Bang-Won) declared abdication 4 times during his reign. It was his scary political tactic to sort out unfaithful subjects. For example, when you hear the king’s abdication news, and if you have an eye on the next heir and try to make a connection with him, you will be purged sooner or later by the King. King Taejong’s successor, Crown Prince Yangnyeong, was caught in such a trap that his maternal uncles from Min clan were executed for that reason. As a result, King Taejong replaced the Crown prince to his 3rd son,Prince Chungnyeong (King Sejong the Great). A few months later, the king really abdicated and set the new Crown prince on the throne in order to prevent any future legitimacy issue. Lest the previous crown prince’s supporters should rebel against the new crown prince, the king enthroned the new Crown prince as the legitimate ruler, although he was holding the actual power behind the throne.
Q5. What is the Hwado Gaekbang? The Mugeuk said that she did not want to use the Hwado Gaekbang but she will have to use it in this case. What is it? We don’t know yet what Hwado Gaekbang means. In my guess, it is 화도객방 禾刀客房 in Chinese characters.
Hwa (화 禾 “rice”) + Do (도 刀 or 刂 “sword”) = Yi or Ri (利 “profit, gains”)
Mugeuk (Yeon-Hayng) told Sambong that Nameless’ belief is “Human beings pursue gains, and the world follow their trails”. Therefore, I guess, Hwado is a name related to their Capitalist belief.
Meanwhile, “Gaekbang (客房)“ means ‘guest room’ or 'inn’.
So, I guess it can be Nameless’ secret internal organization disguised as a kind of accommodations.
Q6. Yeon-Hyang also called Cheon-Ji-Bi to enter. I am wondering if it is someone we know with the last name of “Cheon” in it? Cheon-Ji-Bi (천지비 天地否) is the code name of Head Monk Geolji of Geumwolsa temple who whispered to Lady Gang (Queen Shindeok) that Bang-Seok should be the King.
Do you remember the 64 hexagrams to express the cosmological order in ancient Chinese divination text ”Book of Changes“? Cho-Young of Hwasadan was "Ji-Cheon-Tae” (지천태 地天泰) and Monk Jeok-ryong of Biguksa temple was “Poong-Ji-Gwan” (풍지관 風地觀). All of their code names came from the 64 hexagrams. Cheon-Ji-Bi (천지비 天地否) is also one of them.
Q7. I didn’t realize that King Taejo all had sons - no daughters! His genes are strong! Hahaha… I’m sorry. King Taejo had many daughters. I just skipped them because my post was all about the Crown prince issue. Here is the list of his daughters. From Lady Han (Queen Shinui)
- Princess Gyeongshin 경신공주 慶愼公主
- Princess Gyeongseon 경선공주 慶善公主
From Lady Gang (Queen Shindeok)
- Princess Gyeongsoon 경순공주 慶順公主
From Lady Kim (concubine Hwaui)
- Princess Sookshin 숙신옹주 淑愼翁主
From Lady Joo (concubine)
- Princess Uiryeong 의령옹주 宜寧翁主
Although I wrote all of them as “princess”, they are different in ranks according to their mother’s rank. A king′s daughter by a queen is called Gong-joo (공주 公主) while a king’s daughter by a concubine is called Ong-joo (옹주 翁主).
Q8. I’m curious about Yi Bang-Ui and Yi Bang-Gan. They are not really mentioned in SFD, but what positions are they holding during the SFD timeline? King Taejo’s 3rd son Yi Bang-Ui (Prince Yikan) was known as a person with a calm nature. He had a close loving relationship with his brothers. Although he helped Bang-Won in the first strife of Princes, his character is often skipped in historical dramas because he didn’t have a strong personality like his brothers. Unfortunately, I can’t find his government position.
The 4th son Yi Bang-Gan (Prince Hwaean) was a military officer. He was in charge of Left army in 1392, and the military leader of Northwestern region before he revolted against Yi Bang-Won in the second strife of Princes (1400). After his rebellion ended in failure, he was exiled. King Taejong (Yi Bang-Won) refused to execute Bang-Gan, so he had lived comfortably until he died of an illness.
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Post time 15-2-2016 01:21 PM
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