03.Friend-Foe

General Jiang Lin was relaxing with closed eyes, comfortably leaning on his chair, after the tiresome involvement in battle. His closed eyes added a look of serenity to his handsome face. He had got a few scratches from the recent war but those wounds were already treated and well bandaged.

 Although a few noises could be heard outside the tent, inside of the tent was mostly calm and quiet. General Huang also was sitting on a chair beside general Jiang Lin. Even though the war ended victoriously for their side, it was obvious that something was troubling in General Huang’s mind. He looked anxious and curious at the same time with his furrowed brows. He was repeatedly curling up his moustache, while staring at his friend. But his friend doesn’t seem to notice anything as silence continued.

But infact, General Jiang had been feeling his friend’s intense stares even though his eyes were closed. But he felt too lazy to break the silence, so he ignored his friend’s stares and keep resting.

 General Huang kept waiting, but finally he could no longer tolerate the silence. He cleared his throat.

 "what were the conditions for negotiation?" he shot out the question which he was eager to know the answer.

"Siuli district will be added to our empire's territory for next five years, and 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 beneficial to the empire too.

“I got the agreement letter, I will hand it over to you later. After all this is your territory” Jiang Lin went on with his explanation.

Again it made the general Huang feel unpleasant.

"At least he remembers, this is my territory” he smirked to himself.

“As the general who captured the enemy leader, he has the full 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? And how the hell did you catch him alive?" He burst out with curiosity. As he was busy with enemies in the other side of the field, Huang Song didn’t see what happened in the Jiang Lin side.

In truth, General Jiang Lin came in to a face to face attack with King Lian. And there, he challenged King Lian for a duel keeping his life as a bet.That was the only  step unplanned in their strategy.In fact General Jian was a war hero who did not hesitate to slay enemies. But he valued human lives. He thought, by doing this dare devilish act, he would save many humn lives in both side. King Lian was amazed by this suggestion yet he accepted it sarcastically.

"Do you think your life is that important?" King Lian asked cynically.

"For you, my life might not be importnt. But for me, After my country and my family, my life is the most valuble and important.So I'm putting forth my life as the bet. Is it that your majesty doesn't dare to accept my challenge?" it was General's time to be sarcastic. 

King Lian couldn't help but accept the challenge otherwise he would be humiliated infront of his people.

As both were warriors, they went on with the duel for quite some time. But at last,General's superior spinning blade* took the control over and soon King Lian was under the mercy of General's sword. That's  how the fight end up in that way.

But Jiang Lin didn’t want to go on the details as how he challenged King Lian for a duel and get him defeated in the process because he felt it as a show off. So he cut  out that part.

"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 anything 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 childhood, 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. In her heart and eyes, he was just a friend or colleague.

"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. “The Black Dragon” it was the title given to him because of his fierce yet majestic fighting skills. 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 favorite 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 Lin because even any of his sons had no that much reputation or achievements than general Jiang. It was the reason the emperor kept him near the border without keeping him in the capital.

Although he had this much achievements in his life, he was still very young who was in his late twenties. After joining to the army, after graduating from the academy, his marriage was granted by The emperor to get married with the love of his life as requested by him.

Finally, Huang Song also get married with a random noble lady after realizing that his Hua er* will not belong to him in this life time.

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 my name wouldn't be suppressed 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.

     *               *               *               *               *               *            *                   *

*spinning blade- special sword technique passed down from his family

*Hua er/Jin Hua-Lady Jiang Lin’s maiden name