Past Promises

A One-Sided Proposition.

The King shifts in his seat and waiting for the soldier to tell the back story on how the General managed to make the Min Clan surrendered.

*Min District, South Border...

"Report," a soldier from outside the tent where the General stayed announced his presence

.

"Come in," said the General.

The soldier greeted the General and gave his reports. The soldier was facing the General's back as the General was studying the map of the district.

"We managed to cut down all the vendors and suppliers from reaching the fortress," he said with a steady tone.

The General asked still examining the map.

"No, Sir. We are following your orders as to

not make them alarmed and send them back with the excuse of the district was attacked by sudden flood and we are currently doing search and rescue." Since the district was located near the hills and rivers, the trick went rather smoothly. People just believed the reason without acquiring about it deeper.

"Good. How's our formation doing?" The General then stopped looking at the map and faced the soldier. The soldier straightened his shoulders and looked straight as the General came closer to him.

"One of them received signals that it starting to get chaotic inside as they failed to prepare for emergency food supplies before locking themselves inside the fortress. They were actually waiting for the monthly food supplies when we came. And some of them are actually begging Lord Min to surrender because they do not want to upset His Majesty."

"Perfect. Now we have our chance," the General smiled and put his sword on its holder. "Let's go," he headed out and took few others and went in front of the fortress.

The watchmen from top of the fortress noticed the General and the soldiers then notified Lord Min.

It was silent until Lord Min was seen on the top and looked down on the few soldiers standing outside the fortress. He smirked at their number and thought they will not be able to do anything and this Nation's soldiers will never hurt commoners. They just need to step away and he will come to the King and play tricks on Him and blame all these soldiers for this mess.

"Lord Min, I have a proposition for you," the General said with a loud voice so Lord Min could hear him from down there. "Let me in."

"I will not do anything to you, Lord Min. I don't have any weapons on me," the General put up his hands and turned around slowly to show he did not carry any weapons, "Let's just have one discussion to end all of this."

Lord Min grinned as he said, "Alright, but just you."

The soldiers were trying to protest but the General stopped them. "Nothing will happen, just be on guard. His Majesty might already have sent troops and if they have arrived hold them. Hold them until I'm out from there. Understood?"

"Yes, General."

The main gate opened slightly just enough to make the General passed through. The soldiers were wearing worried expressions on their faces. Even though they were only normal civilians, who knew what tricks they had on their sleeves.

***

The civilians were watching the general as he passed through them. They were lining up along the streets while holding forks and sticks, not even one of them was holding a real weapon. The only ones with real weapons were the Lord Min's guards which walked while circling the General. The civilians looked rather intimidated by the General even though he did not carry any weapons with him. He was a well-known warrior and they had heard of his exceptional records. They did not even want to provoke him but they had been threatened by Lord Min and they could only followed his orders as to not let their belongings confiscated by the greedy merchant.

Lord Min brought General to his mansion and went inside a large living room. A guard brought out a chair and put it in the middle of the room in front of where Lord Min was sitting. The guards were standing beside the Generals with their hands fixed on the swords' hilt. The General sat relaxed on the chair that the Lord Min felt suddenly unease by his manner.

"What is your proposition, General?" Lord Min asked after he sipped his tea.

"It was not me who make all the mess, General. You forced me to it. Do you know how many trades you had ruined just these past days? How do you think His Majesty will react to this?"

"Do you still not realise what you had done wrong, Lord Min?" The General started to feel annoyed by Lord Min's ignorance.

"I have not done anything that wrong but I do know His Majesty will listen to me better than you, Prince Lee." Lord Min tried to show that he was not intimidated by the General's presence but he played his card wrong. The General knew that Lord Min intentionally addressed him as the prince because he was known to be the failed-to-be-crown prince among the civilians and people looked down on him because of that. They regarded him as prince only on title but people did not really consider him to be worth of noble respect. No matter how many astounding achievements he had achieved, whenever people reminded that he was a prince, they went back to his past rather seeing his presence being.

The General looked unfazed by Lord Min and his face remained expressionless. The General had no concerns to all those stories attached to him as he had only one motive for all his life, to serve the King.

"Let me just get this straight, Lord Min. I'm a general and I follow strictly to our soldiers' commandments and one of it is not to attack children and women. What are you expecting with this rebellion, Lord Min? Do you think you will still be holding your position and your current status after this? What will be the lives of your clan, your family, your children? The troops are coming, Lord Min. And I'm not sure what sort of orders do they bring. From what I've known of His Majesty, He will not tolerate anyone that made chaos in this Nation and put the lives of the citizens in danger under His nose. I'm making a proposition for you, to surrender and keep your status but maybe you have to pay a lot since you stole a lot or... be stripped from your title and beg for food, only if His Majesty allows you to live. Are you willing to see your children and your clans live the life I said?"

Lord Min shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "Are you threatening me, General?"

"I'm not because it's a merely a painted picture of your future because no one in this Nation should ever anger His Majesty and you just did. What do you expect of the consequences to your actions, Lord Min? To be forgiven? You know that is highly impossible. Once the troops came in, you would not even have the chance to speak a word, let alone seeing His Majesty." The General stood up and the guards flinched by his movement.

"I give you an hour to think, no, to be ready. There's nothing you should think of, there's only two consequences for all this, one, to be killed or second, follow as I say, and you shall live a little bit longer." Then the General strode away.

The next hour the Main gate opened and the conflict ended in less than a week. The General stayed longer as the Finance Officers requested him to be there with them, for fear for another chaos as they were completing their reports. As soon as the Finance Officers finished their duties, the General will come back to the capital.

"I dispatched a little earlier than the General to report about the events, Your Majesty" Chief Song says after concluding the story in South Border. "The General and the others will be here only after the Finance Officers completed their reports, Your Majesty."