Do you remember that so wons father said that he would follow his younger brother and protect the kingdom for him.... His plans were to expand when he thought he was going to be a king later on he just wanted his brother to start ruling rather than praying
we have the same idea of King Il being not really a king but just a temporary king to be replaced by Yona later on. and also maybe King Il all do is wait for the true king to arrive and Yu-Hon hated it but at the end of the day King Il is right about Yona.
But why kill Kashi??? He def have plans because he wants the threat out of the way. Didnt he say that Kashi is fooling him or something? Even if he wants to just support his brother, sooner or later he'll change his mind and want the throne back since King Il is not a good ruler
I agree that Il was a terrible king, but aren't we all ignoring the fact that YuHon was planning to... You know... Invade all other kingdoms (the whole CONTINENT) to build an empire? Take his whole country to an unnecesary war for the sake of country expansion? The country suffered under Il, but with this new info I'm beginning to see it as the lesser evil...
War is a terrible thing, for both the attacking and the attacked kingdom's people. It brings death, illness and starvation for both parties. Remember YoHon's actions during the war with Kouren's kingdom (can't remember the name now)? He was cruel with men, women and children and didn't even want to reach a peaceful agreement. Not to mention that he annihilates anyone he dislikes, even innocent children from a peaceful temple or other countries (And as his wife noted, he did kill the queen, out of prejudices only, guess he thought Il and his wife were separate matters, as Soo Won thinks of Il and Yona, which is quite sacry because he doesn't care about the feelings of even the people he supposedly loves).
King Il was terrible as a king, but I tremble just thinking of what YuHon would have been like. King Il was terrible, but I think he avoided doing things to wait for the "legit" governor Hiryuu that was his daughter (Wrong? Yes, but I still think he was just waiting and expected Hiryuu to solve the problems later).
Soo Won has his father's worst traits, I'm afraid... And like Yona said, he can't be a good king while negating all the wrongs his father committed. Yona had to face her own father's mistakes, but Soo Won refuses to do so with his own's. He even seems to be planning to invade like his father... Kouren barely made it thanks to Yona.