A/N: Many thanks to those who have read and reviewed. Another chapter up!
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Chapter 15: Forming Plans
General Lao and Pei returned to the inn as Mulan came out with tea for her and Shang, and they sat at the table and talked.
"Li Shang, as it turns out, it was a good thing that your troop got to the Tung Shao Pass; but I was wondering how you ended up coming to be there," Lao began.
"We got word from my father."
Lao shook his head. "That isn't possible. Your father knew that the situation was not right. I don't think he had any intention of having you join him at the front. That's why he left it up to Chi Fu to decide when you were ready. He figured Chi Fu would want to put you down and never send word that you were ready."
"But Chi Fu is the one who brought me the letter from my father."
"I don't understand. I really didn't think your father would send for you. But I guess Chi Fu had no reason to make it up."
"No, sir. He was with us, and he knew he was coming with us."
Mulan's eye was caught by Cri-Kee and Mushu perched in the corner of the room; the cricket was gesturing frantically at Mushu. She nodded at the cricket, understanding that somehow the little dragon was involved in the mysterious letter from Shang's father, then fixed Mushu with a scowl, letting him know that she would want answers later.
"Well, I guess we'll never know exactly what happened."
"I guess," Shang repeated, looking puzzled.
"But I have other things to talk to you about. Both of you. There is a man named Fong who is one of the Emperor's aides. He is almost as close to the Emperor as Chi Fu was. He is well respected by everyone and there are many that feel that he would be a very good ruler. He has good ideas, he is fair in his dealings with all people and he is very unhappy with the way the Emperor has squandered the resources of the country. This Emperor is greedy and corrupt and there are people in these villages and on the farms who are just barely eking out a living because of his lifestyle and his policies."
"What about Chi Fu?" Shang asked. "How was he involved in this, that every one of you wanted him out of the way? I know you were protecting Mulan. And me. But was there anything else?"
"Yes. Chi Fu caused a lot of problems for everyone. He was very close to the Emperor and he put a lot of things into the Emperor's head that made trouble for people. Guang-Zhi lost his son because Chi Fu told the Emperor that there was a rebellion in one of the villages because a person spoke up when a new decree was announced and expressed the concerns of the villagers whose livelihoods were being affected. That's just one example. Also, Chi Fu is the one who gave Fa Zhou the conscription notice."
"Chi Fu is the one that did that?"
"Yes," Mulan answered now. "I tried to explain to him about his wound, but he wouldn't listen."
"And the fact that he wanted to harm you was enough of a reason for me, Li Shang. And he always had it in for your father."
"I know that he hated me," Shang commented, thoughtfully. "And my father. I don't really know why."
"He was a miserable person. He came from a poor family, but he was very intelligent and he was one of the young men that excelled on his civil service exams. He retained a high post in the palace very quickly and rose up through the ranks to become the Emperor's number one councilman. He was one of the only people in the palace from such a background; and he never got over the fact that he had to work so much harder than richer, more privileged boys that surrounded him. He couldn't have tutors because his family couldn't afford it. He really did work very hard and got where he was on his own. But once he got there, he still resented people like you and your father. And at the same time he hated the common people, too. I guess they reminded him of where he came from."
They all fell silent for a minute suddenly. Then General Lao spoke again.
"Now that Chi Fu will not be around to warn the Emperor or interfere with anything, we can start to come up with a plan. The rest of the group will be here tonight and we will discuss this in detail. It is time for us to be moving out soon, toward Chang'an. We need to start heading toward Gao-Rong's village to join with his group. And we need to start thinking of a plan to get into the city inconspicuously, and then into the palace."
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Mulan went to work in the kitchen shortly after their discussion with the general. Mushu and Cri-Kee sat in the kitchen with her while she worked and she demanded that the little dragon tell her exactly what the story was with the letter from Shang's father.
Mushu's reason for doing what he did was selfish, of course. But she had to laugh at his story of the straw dummy in an Imperial uniform, riding a panda no less, giving Chi Fu 'urgent news from the general'.
"So, with all your other talents, Mushu, you're also a puppeteer."
Pei came in to talk to her a few minutes later, leaving Shang to talk to his father's friend.
"Hopefully no one will recognize you when you enter the Imperial City. They may not remember what you look like exactly. But just in case, you should be dressed as a boy again."
She nodded. "I was thinking that. Are you going with us?"
"Yes."
"What about this place?"
Pei shrugged. "Either I will get someone to look after it or I will close it up. It has served more as a front than as an inn most of the time."
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Everyone was gathered in the main room once again and Mulan and Shang were sitting with them.
"We will be leaving to meet up with the others in the villages closer to Chang'an," the general told them. "When we're done here, we need to get a message out to Fong and the others in the city to let them know."
"They will hopefully have an idea of how we should get in when they send us a return message," one of the men suggested.
General Lao nodded. "We should have a few plans made, just in case one doesn't seem like it will work."
"Well, we need to enter the city in small groups. Large numbers would be too conspicuous and the city and palace are too heavily guarded," Guang-Zhi suggested.
"Yeah, but even if we're in small, inconspicuous groups, we're not going to just walk in there," Pei remarked. "There are checkpoints at the entrances. We would all need to have different but plausible reasons for being there."
"Unless we lay siege to the city, openly," said General Lao. "Our forces would have to be well-organized. We need to get in contact with the villages to the east and west of Chang'an as well."
"I still think the city and palace are too heavily guarded. Even with all of our forces combined and well-organized, we would still be at a disadvantage, General," Guang-Zhi spoke up again. "Besides, many of the men are villagers and farmers who have learned to fight; but they are not soldiers. I think it would be better to come up with a way to enter the city inconspicuously. If we are a large force, they will be ready to defend themselves against us."
"What if we can come up with a distraction of some sort?" Mulan asked.
Everyone turned to look at her.
"What kind of distraction?" the general asked.
"Well, we would have to think of one. But if we can create something to divert their attention to one place, we can enter from another place without being seen. Maybe set up an open attack from one side that isn't really the attack. While they are busy defending themselves against that first open attack, everyone else enters from a different direction."
"That's the kind of idea your father would come up with," General Lao chuckled. "Let's see if we can come up with a good distraction."
"Well, like she suggested, a group can attack openly from one direction. Of course, that group would be sacrificed."
"Not necessarily," the general said. "They could just be set up as if they were going to attack, but not actually do anything. Their mere presence would be the distraction."
"Perhaps a distraction in the city?"
"We would still have to find a way for all of us to get in there inconspicuously so that we could set up the distraction. No, I think the distraction has to be set up outside the city," Pei argued.
"Agreed," said the general
"What if we can set up an illusion that there is another attack from the Huns?" Mulan suggested.
"How? By starting a rumor?"
"Well, that too. But I have another idea. Do you have a network set up in the villages to the north at all?"
"No. We would have to arrange for groups from the northern-most villages to the east and west to circumvent the city in order to arrive from the north."
"Are you suggesting that the open attack be from the north so that they think it's the Huns attacking?" Shang asked.
"Not exactly," Mulan answered, thinking about Mushu's story.
She began to explain her idea to them.