Chapter 03-An ambush

General Jiang was relaxing with closed eyes,comfortably leaning on his chair, after the tiresome involvement in battle.

Breaking the silence,he heard the voice of General Huang ,asking a question.

"what were the conditions for negotiation ?"He was eager to know.

"Siuli district will be added to our empire's territory and for next five years,they would not attack our empire nor will they collude with other countries to attack our empire unless we attack them first."

It was a good deal for a negotiation after all.King Lian was the most powerful king around the southwest border and without his support other near countries wouldn't be able to attack the empire easily.And Siuli was a prosperous district which would be much benefitial to the empire too.

Again it made the general Huang feel unpleasant.

"As the general who captured the enemy leader,General Jiang had the right to decide what to do with the enemy.But he could have asked for my opinion.After all I am the general of this border"general Huang thought to himself.And that thought turned to words.

"Why didn't you ask my opinion?"

"If we killed king Lian,it would be more troublesome later.This was better than killing the enemy.I guessed your thoughts.I knew exactly that, you would do the same in facing the same situation."general Jiang replied leisurely .

"You know I'm good at guessing your thoughts,right?"he continued ."Because we are friends "he added, winking at General Huang like a playful teenager .

"Yes.It is the most frustrating thing here."General Huang frowned to himself.

General Jiang and General Huang were "friends"indeed since their childhood .They were apprentices of same master when learning martial arts and military skills.At the academy ,both of them were the outstanding top two students .Problem started there because in every event,in every time ,in every skill Jiang Lin was the top student while He was always the second,no matter how much his efforts were.Although their skills were almost compatible with each other but it seemed in everything, Jiang Lin was a step ahead of Him.Jiang Lin could accurately guess what his thoughts,tactics were.Therefore he was never able to defeat Jiang Lin at least even once in any field. It made him envy his friend.Finally, defeating him once in anyththing became the goal of his life which he couldn't achieve until now.

Except for this,what he couldn't stand the most was he even lost the woman he loved for the first time in his life to him.

As a young master of a prestigious family,he had seen many pretty and noble young ladies but she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen until now.She was the daughter of their master.Since child hood,they grew up together.Not only she was pretty,but also she was intelligent and skillfull in martial arts.There were many young nobles who would ask her hand in marriage but only Jiang Lin was able to win her affection .He wouldn't receive even a glance of affection from her.

"Again why did it have to be him?"Overwhelmed by jealousy ,Huang Song thought ."

Only if he wouldn't be there,I wouldn't be defeated repeatedly like this."His jealousy was fueled and grow up like a burning fire inside of him and it almost ended in turning to hatred.

But in Jiang Lin's side,he always considered Huang Song as one of his closest friend.Whenever he needed help,he wouldn't think twice offering his help in learning ,practicing, improving literary skills ..etc.When it comes to tests,competitions in academy,he performed with his best skills because he believed that in a competition ,the highest respect he could give to his opponent is to fight in his level best.He never thought that because of that belief of his,he would have enemies .Although most of times he could guess Huang Song's thoughts,he couldn't identify the hidden volcano like jealousy and hatred Huang Song had in his heart towards him.

They left the academy together ,joined the army together.With their abilities they were promoted to generals in no time.When it comes to their achievements ,Jiang Lin had become a living legend because of his skills in art of war.He was very popular even among the civilians.General Jiang Lin was a distant relative of royal family too.His mother was a daughter of late emperor's favourite concubine.Therefore he was a son of a princess.Even though Jiang Lin had no much desire to involve in the power struggle for throne,the emperor himself was cautious when it comes to general Jiang because even any of his sons had no that much reputation of achievements than general Jiang .It was the reason the emperor kept him near the border without keeping him in the capital.

General Huang was deep in thoughts while General Jiang had left long ago.All of those memories and facts were flooding into General Huang's mind ,igniting the sparks of suppressed hatred in his mind.This time also he got the spotlight making the king Lian surrender.Wouldn't there be a day his name wouldn't be surpressed by this annoying friend?He was fed up being second all the time.

"If I didn't do anything at least now,I would be second to him throughout my life time.I must do something to eliminate this nuisance out of my life"he determined.

Next day General Jiang and his troops left for their camp.General Huang said good bye thinking that this would be the last time they see each other as allies because he was already planning for his downfall .

* * * * * * *

After few days...

General Jiang was heading home from the border with twenty of his most trusted subordinates.Before entering the capital,they had to pass a defile beyond the Megan valley .When entering the valley ,General Jiang suddenly ordered his men to hold their horses.Two of his body guards reached him to ask the reason for his order.

"I feel very uneasy about something,There must be something amiss definitely "he said.

"I want you to examine the bi-face of that defile before we enter.Both of you,take five men each and check before we enter"he ordered.

They got the order and left while others were waiting there keeping their guard up.After about one incense stick time,two bodyguards returned reporting what they found.

"Master ,you were right.There are about 200men hiding.I couldn't figure out what their target is.But definitely they are waiting for an ambush."one guard reported.

"Master,they are waiting for you"Wang Wei,the other guard who went to search reported .

"But I couldn't find out who gave the order to them"

General Jiang thought for sometime.Enemies were ten times more than them.If they decide to fight,they had to be more tactful and the luck must be defineatly with them.He was the one knew his men's abilities the best and this time he thought of trying their luck a bit too.

"Wang Wei,take 10 men and lead them from the left.I'm taking the rest from right. We are not directly attacking them.We have to attack them secretly due to our limited man power"General gave his orders .

They led the attack as planned.Finally,at the end of the attack five of them were wounded moderately,others were unharmed or minimally wounded.From the enemy's side about ten men fled last.Others were killed by the guerilla mission.

But they couldn't catch anyone alive to find a lead for their leader.

They started their journey again.They were passing a forest when they faced their second attack.This time also there were about hundred attackers covering their faces with masks.Though they were able to escape long range attacks last time because of the hidden attack,this time they had to face the long range attacks of enemy archers.They were fighting fiercly yet started falling one by one facing the enemy's arrows.

only eight of them were standing in the arena when one of the guard saw their general was fighting with five and another was aiming an arrow towards him.He shielded the general from arrow using his own body as the shield and leaving only seven alive of them on the battle field.

General's team managed to do a considerable damage to enemies yet they were falling.The rest of them had been shot two, three times when they fell on the battle field.When Wang Wei was falling,he had received two arrows and he saw his master had been shot by three arrows but still was fighting.When he couldn't manage to stand he tried crawling towards his master.That's when he saw the most dreadful scene of the day,..someone stabbed their General behind .