PeachBlossomGoddess

Up to this point, the only character that seems to have "lost the plot" is Ms Su. I don't even understand what her agenda is anymore.

I think she always knew her husband was still alive - she admitted as much to her son when she shared the Ghost Poem with him. That totally cracked me up - he literally ghosted her ancient Qing dynasty style!!!

Seems we should get all the episodes today.

Yes I also think GPY may have inadvertently out-ted his father by inquiring about him. RL is also an imperial scholar he certainly should have the contacts to find him or may even have known him.

Just my speculation.😅

I think he may be faking it. This whole fake identity thing could be the crime of deceiving the emperor bc he has an official position. He is afraid Rui Lin now has this on him and it could get all of them killed. He probably is pretending to be ill while he plans a hasty exit.

Yeah its not fully revealed yet but that would be my guess as well. I am thinking though that this may have involved the crime of deceiving the emperor. Otherwise why would the dude more or less go into a coma at the sight of his first wife that can expose him???

Eyes wide shut!!!👀
I did love the dialogue - so tongue in cheek. They were both lying and speaking the truth at the same time.🤥🤥🤥

Certainly Jiu and Ms Su are also grey characters. So far RL knew what they were up to and he let them go bc it serves his purpose. I am just observing that in this period in history, everyone is quite grey. Even GPY's actions don't always stand up to close scrutiny. After all, he went and acquired all those guns that were used to kill Li Cheng's men, specifically the ones that surrendered. Of course he didn't know they would be used like that but what are guns used for other than to kill people? I am looking hard but I don't really see many outright good guys here.

I think he is just using GPY. He knows who he is and what his relationship is with LWT and LQ. He is mostly just using GPY to suppress them, esp LWT.

I think either one or both LWT and GPY's mom are faking their illness bc they figured out that Rui Lin brought them together for a reason and they are stalling.

So far, Rui Lin is a grey character in my books. He is pragmatic, clever and willing to to look the other way. I think he does want to fix the salt business that is critical to his province but he has his own agenda for doing so. A simple honest official does not become Viceroy of Liangjiang, which should be the second most important of the 8 regions after Zhili/Beijing. He does want to make a little bit of money on the side but he is not majorly corrupt (his 20k teals is an investment not a donation). GPY figured this out already when he basically said money is his father. But I think his main end game is a power play. I think he is can be just as dangerous, maybe even more than Marshal Jiu if GPY gets on his wrong side.

《琅琊榜》yyds！我个人的排行榜上它永远是第一。

I think the box of gold should have come from Ms Su. So that was what the she and Marshal Jiu were after from the get go. And Viceroy RL also figured it out but he closed both eyes. He is out of money, feeding prisoners is expensive and he also needed to pay those soldiers.

Ikr - toddlers were so tall way back then! We have regressed!!!

I knew from the moment he seemed to dive into the barrel that it was all for show. And I am glad he is depicted to have freed those men instead of butchering them all as he did in history. So he colluded with Ms Su to bring GPY to Nanjing to help free Li Cheng's men in exchange for his own men's back pay. Well done. And I think it is GPY's karma bc he did promise to save Li Cheng's men in exchange for his surrender.

Hahaha, Marshal Jiu is hilarious:

It should be a few years by now but yes, that child looks a bit too old.

Seems to me the dialogue is super clear that Jiu assigned GPY to RL, who learned about him from Jiu. That doesn't mean RL didn't have a say - he acceded to it with reservations and was surprised pleasantly. By definition of his post and his rank as a first tier viceroy RL is no figurehead - this has nothing to do with whether he summoned GPY.

As for the historical figure LHZ he was an incredibly powerful figure later on, almost a prime minister. But at the time he was only a provincial governor Xunfu (巡抚). In other words, the fictional Rui Lin would be his boss. He was also not well regarded in history.

Viceroy or Zongdu 总督 is one of the highest ranking positions in Qing government reporting directly to the emperor with broad political, civil and military authority over their region. Marshal Jiu/Zeng Guoquan was a commander in his brother Zeng Guofan's Xiang army. The Xiang Army were a power unto themselves - an independent army loyal first to the Zeng family over the emperor. So the power politics were complicated and its not clear who exactly is more powerful bc the emperor needed the Zeng army to suppress the many rebellions. Without Marshal Jiu's military presence, it is unlikely that RL can hold onto his provinces. So unless put to a test, its not that clear who reports to who. The Xiang Army had some similarities to the late Prigozhin's Wagner Group.

I hear you on the stakes not seeming to be as high in the latest arcs. But I think Nanjing is very complicated and my sense is the drama hasn't scratched the surface yet of the issues that could arise. Including potentially the soldiers rebelling.