Chapter 12: At Guang-Zhi's House

Pei and Mulan had been asked to join the others at Guang-Zhi's house. Mulan was a little nervous about being there. She knew she would have to see Chi Fu, and he would see her. But Pei brought her into the room from behind Chi Fu, so he didn't see her. Still, she was puzzled as to why she had been brought there.

They had taken the gag off of Chi Fu, but his body was completely bound with ropes. The men were interrogating him about the layout of the Imperial Palace, about the number of guards there and about other information that they obviously wanted in order to infiltrate the Imperial Palace when it came time to carry out their plans.

The interrogation turned to the Tung Shao Pass and the attack that had cost the lives of General Li and his troops. They were intimating that the incident had occurred because of the poor orders that the Emperor had given, which then got passed on to the general by Chi Fu.

Mulan pondered that. After they had left that burning village near the Tung Shao Pass she had wondered how it was that a seasoned general like Shang's father had so easily been defeated. She knew that Shan-Yu had been ruthless and cunning and his army was huge. But it stood to reason that the general would have been more prepared than he was. If he was given faulty orders or bad information, though, that could explain why he'd been defeated so easily.

A large man that Mulan had never seen before was sitting beside Pei and her, his arms folded, listening to the interrogation but saying nothing.

Pei caught her attention and gestured to the man. Then he leaned in and whispered to her, "That is the general we are helping."

"Maybe the Emperor's orders weren't poor, but you twisted them around and it was your fault," another man was saying to the councilman. "We all know you never liked General Li. Maybe you were trying to arrange it so that he would be harmed."

"I twisted nothing around. The general and his troops are dead because the general was arrogant," Chi Fu retorted. "The Emperor's orders were fine, but he was arrogant and did what he wanted. He disobeyed the Emperor and it was his own fault that it happened. He got what he deserved."

The man closest to the councilman slapped him. "All of those troops would have been killed if General Li had followed the Emperor's order to the letter."

"They were all killed," Chi Fu sneered.

The general that was sitting beside her stood up now and strode slowly but purposefully around the chair that Chi Fu was bound in and came around to face him, taking over the interrogation. The general was a handsome man but his eyes were like daggers as he looked at the councilman and Mulan knew from his expression that he was the one that was going to kill him, and fairly soon from the looks of it.

She heard Chi Fu gasp at the sight of the general. He obviously knew him and was shocked to see him.

"Not all, Chi Fu," said the general sternly. "General Li was an excellent and shrewd commander. He knew the Emperor's order was unwise. And he sent me ahead to lead a group through the Tung Shao Pass and back to the Imperial City before the Huns arrived at that village, just in case something went wrong. Which obviously happened. I, and the men who came with me, owe our lives to the general for his foresight and excellent judgment. We were there waiting at the Imperial City so we could defend it in the event that something went wrong and the Hun army arrived there. Fortunately, thanks to Fa Mulan and the troop she was with, the Hun army didn't make it. Only Shan-Yu and a handful of foot soldiers arrived when everyone least expected it."

The general motioned to Pei to take Mulan out of the room, and he obeyed, indicating for her to follow him. Pei shut the door behind them as they stepped out into the hall.

Mulan was shocked at the high pitch at which Chi Fu could scream.

xxxxxxx

Mulan and Pei sat together in Guang-Zhi's sitting room, talking.

"Pei, why did they want me here?"

"The general wanted to make sure you know what is going on. He will want to talk to you. He knows that you are a very talented strategist. That will come in handy when it comes time to carry out a plan to infiltrate the palace."

"Are you sure Chi Fu was telling the truth about the layout of the palace and all that?"

"No, but it doesn't matter. The general knows the layout of the palace at least as well as Chi Fu. They were just questioning him about different things to tire him out and weaken him for when they got down to questioning him about the real issue."

"You mean about the Tung Shao Pass?"

"Yes."

"Was it really the Emperor himself that caused the destruction of the entire troop that was defending that village?"

"Yes, it was the Emperor's order."

Mulan was silent, turning that over in her mind.

"Why would the Emperor give such a poor order? Is he just stupid?"

"That's hard to say. Both General Li and our general had other suspicions about the situation. Fortunately, that isn't an issue anymore, thanks to you."

"So, what about Shang, Pei? We left him on the floor in the inn."

"He will be fine. We have been trying to protect him, too."

She looked at him quizzically.

"We all know that he spared your life in the Tung Shao Pass. He joined you and went along with your plan to rescue the Emperor from Shan-Yu in the Imperial City. And it is very obvious how concerned he is about your wound and your well being; this is not someone who would actually be willing to kill you. We have been protecting you from the councilman, not from the captain."

"I wasn't sure. But you have seen him more recently than I have."

"The Emperor ordered him to chase you down and execute you; or capture you for execution. But none of us have ever thought he had any intention of carrying out that order. And the Emperor knew that, too. He was just disposing of him. Chi Fu was sent with him, not just to make sure he carried out the order, but to kill him."

"You think the Emperor gave Chi Fu orders to kill Shang?"

"Probably. Or maybe he didn't have orders. Maybe he was planning to do it on his own. Either way we are sure he would have harmed the captain if we hadn't captured him. We were not going to let that happen. Our general was a good friend to General Li and would not let anything happen to his son."