A/N: Another chapter up! Many thanks to those who have reviewed. I especially want to thank Angel452 for reviewing me every step of the way through, even after I went and completely changed the direction the story took.

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Chapter 17: Return to Chang'an

They reached the last village, just on the outskirts of Chang'an. General Lao was already there. Everyone knew the plan, and the strategy had been passed along to the villages in the east and west as well.

"We are waiting for a message from the northeast and northwest villages, advising when they have moved out toward the north. Those entire villages will be almost completely abandoned, as it took everyone in them to create our Mongol puppet army and it will take all of them to set everything up."

"Just as long as they're Hun-sized," Pei quipped.

General Lao had drawn a diagram of the palace and he had designated teams to move out to each entrance to the palace. It would be necessary to have several teams inside to cover each of the Emperor's aides and councilmen and allow for the placement of the new Emperor. The rest of their forces would form a crowd to the north of the palace, setting up a blockade of people and making it impossible for the troops that had moved out north to defend the city to return to the palace. Everyone would be armed. Though it was hoped that the task could be accomplished as bloodlessly as possible, it was understood that it might not be possible.

If all went well, by the time the guard got through the crowd and got into the palace, the task inside the palace would have been carried out already and the palace would be under siege by their forces. Those who had been loyal to the current Emperor would be forced to flee the Imperial City.

"As soon as we get word from those villages, we will send another message to Fong and the others. Then we move out toward the southern entrance of the city. The forces to the east and west will be getting the same message and will do the same. Fong and the others already received our first message and by now have been setting up the rumors so the Emperor will be convinced to send an army to the north. Fong will send another message to me and to each of the other leaders once the forces have been sent out to the north. And then we wait for the signal."

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Mulan sat by the river with Khan, Mushu and Cri-Kee, debating whether to go in or not.

"This is not a good idea," Mushu warned.

"But everyone is asleep. I don't want to just go without bathing, Mushu."

"What is the big deal with you and bathing?"

Mulan didn't answer him.

"Besides, every time you wash I have to re-apply that oil to your face to darken it and obscure your features. We're running out and you need to look like Ping in the Imperial City. Or Sheng-Li. Or whatever your name is now."

Mulan sighed. "Oh, alright. Hopefully we'll get out of here soon anyway."

They had been stationed in the forest, south of the Imperial City, ever since they received word from the villagers from the northeast and northwest, remaining quiet and hidden and waiting for the message from Fong indicating that it was time to move into the city.

It had been several days that they had been camping there now. Mulan was used to sleeping outdoors by now, but she still hated going without immersing her body in water. But Mushu was right. She was in a camp full of men who knew who and what she was.

She was just hoping they would get going soon. The waiting was the worst part.

"Mulan?"

Mulan turned to Shang and smiled. Smiling was an involuntary action for her when she heard his voice.

"You're still up, Shang?"

Shang nodded and came to sit down beside her.

"Do you always stay up nights talking to your cricket?"

"Well, I'm used to being up at night now. I was traveling at night so I wouldn't be seen. And then I was working at night, too."

"So, what did your grandmother give you the cricket for? What was it supposed to bring you luck for?"

Mulan looked away, feeling her face turn red. "I'd rather not say."

He was about to speak, then he stopped himself and obviously decided to say something else.

"Pei seems like a good guy."

"He is. He and his friends were very kind to me. When I showed up at his inn I hadn't slept for days. I offered to work in exchange for a bed and a meal and he let me sleep before he put me to work. Then he offered me the job and paid me a little bit of money, too."

They sat quietly for a few minutes, looking at the river.

"General Lao was a good friend of your father's?" she asked, interrupting the silence and turning to look at him.

Shang nodded. "Yes. And he was like an uncle to me. For most of my life, other than my mother, my family has pretty much been the other generals and officers that worked with my father. That's who I was around all the time, except when I was at the academy."

"I heard that you graduated number one in your class. And a year early."

He nodded. "But that's all I did. My whole life was about working at my studies and my training. The others used to go out drinking after class. I didn't. I always went back and studied."

"Are you sorry that you didn't go out with your classmates?"

"Maybe sometimes. I don't know. I was so focused on working at my career and being the best. I never thought about having fun or anything else. Some of the others weren't even interested in military strategy and history the way I was. You seem to be interested in it, though. I was meaning to ask you…how did you come to read Sun-Tzu?"

"My father was an officer of the Imperial Army. He had it in the house."

"Hmm. I bet you didn't even have permission to read it either."

Mulan laughed. "I wasn't told not to read it."

Shang smiled lopsidedly. "You're too much. But I've enjoyed talking about it with you. I never thought I'd be talking about that with a girl."

They both began to talk at the same time, each stopping to let the other one speak first.

"Go ahead," she told him.

"No, it's okay. You go ahead first."

She shrugged. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for deceiving you. I didn't mean to hurt you or anyone. I was just doing what I thought I had to."

"I know. It's okay. I understand why you did it. I shouldn't have taken it so personally."

"What did you want to say?"

"Well, after this is over…whatever the outcome…"

He was interrupted before he could finish.

"Captain Li. Fa Mulan." General Lao had approached the riverbank. "We just received a message from Fong. We need to be prepared to move out."

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They huddled quickly and General Lao told them about the message from Fong. The Emperor was dead already. Several of the councilmen backed Fong and they had come up with a plan to slowly poison the Emperor, putting just a little bit of poison into his food each day. It wasn't enough to kill him at first; just enough for him to remain ill until today, when they finally gave him the fatal dose. To everyone else, it simply appeared as if the Emperor had become ill and remained so for a few weeks before succumbing.

"Troops have already been sent to the north in response to the strong rumors of a possible Hun attack. With any luck, the guard at the southern entrance and the other entrances will go running the minute the troops to the north signal that they've spotted our homemade Hun army. Once they're occupied with the enemy to the north, the palace should be open for us to infiltrate it and set things in action to get Fong on the throne."

They packed up camp quickly and moved closer toward the city, waiting in visual range of the southern entrance and walls.

"That's our cue," General Lao said as the sound of drums and gongs hit their ears from inside the city walls. "They've spotted our 'Mongolian army.' If we heard it all the way here, the groups to the east and west heard it, too. You all know where you're each supposed to go and what to do. Move out!"

They moved nonchalantly into the city, breaking off into the teams that General Lao had designated. Several of their forces had moved toward the northern entrance, becoming a wall of people and blocking the palace guard from getting through and back to the palace. The rest of them went to their designated entrances and infiltrated the palace. The attention of the guards was on the chaos that was ensuing to the north of the city, and the fact that it was night worked to their advantage also; all teams slipped into the palace unseen and it was now under siege.

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It was late morning and the city was in chaos. The troops that had been dispatched to the north the night before realized quite quickly that they were facing an army of straw dummies when the 'Mongol army' just stood there without fighting or even moving. When they turned around and returned to the city, they found a mob scene of people blocking their path to the palace.

In the palace, the few members of the council and other members of the court that were against the idea of Fong becoming Emperor were forced to flee when the teams laid siege to the palace. The Emperor had no son and there was no apparent rightful heir to the throne. And now the fighting in the streets worked to the advantage of Fong's allies, convincing their adversaries further that a rebellion was taking place due to the death of the Emperor.

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A/N: More to follow shortly.