Lian quickly brushed grains of rice off of her armor and wiped her mouth with a sleeve. She had seen her father and brother doing that whenever her mother wasn't looking. She rode up to the area before the steps that went up to the Imperial Palace itself. Lian had long ago gotten used to the grandeur of it, but she never got over knowing that this was the place where her mother saved the entire Middle Kingdom. She smiled with pride as she rode through men who where also called there. Some of them looked too young or too old to be soldiers. Training would be brutal on them. The young ones would turn into men and the old, well, she didn't want to think. She heard the gongs ring and every man's attention turned to the top of the long row of steps. The Emperor stepped to the head of the stairs and everyone bowed. His council members stepped up beside him, as did a young man in armor. Lian guessed that would be De Sheng, the prince.
"Men of the Middle Kingdom! I thank you for helping to retrieve the soldiers we have lost to the Hun army!" the Emperor started. He wasn't the same emperor who had bowed to Mulan he was his eldest son.
"Now each of you will have to under go training to become China's finest soldiers!" he finished and he and his councilmen left. A heavy-set man in the crowd, a soldier, started yelling out that the men who have had any military training should gather by the stairs. Lian steered her horse toward the stairs, eyeing every other man she saw headed in the same direction as her. She saw a group of three men who all looked the same. She reached the stairs first and got to them the same time De Shen reached the bottom. She bowed to him and he smirked, which she thought was very odd. Once all the men had gathered the prince eyed them all, surveying them. Lian realized she was the only one of horseback; she felt a little embarrassed sticking out so much.
"You men have had military training? You look like a bunch of women in armor!" he yelled out to them. Lian narrowed her eyes. She guessed princes don't have to worry about first impressions. Shen had noticed Lian narrowing her eyes in anger.
"You, on the horse! Dismount and come over here," he commanded. She did so and handed the reins to a man standing near by. She walked over to me.
"Sir?" she asked.
"Do you realize that you are not soldier material?" he asked her. Her eyes narrowed even more.
"Why do you say that, Sir?"
"Look at you, you're so small, you could fight a woman and lose," he told her.
"Excuse me sir! Size does not matter. You, as a member of the Chinese army should know that of all people. A single soldier once defeated the entire Hun army, thousands of men. In the Chinese Army size means nothing compared to the strength, skill, and intelligence of every single soldier in it, Sir," she told him.
"You said that quite sure of yourself, tell me what is your name?"
"Li Chen, and all due with respect sir, I am quite sure of myself" she responded. She was Chen, not Lian.
"You may remount your horse Chen. All of you, follow me!" he said as he walked through the crowd. Lian remounted her horse and followed.
Shen had mounted a white stallion and was now leading the group of about thirty men to a campsite. Besides the Prince, Lian was the only other person on horseback. She rode a little behind and to the right of Shen, not wishing to cross paths with him. He would have to prove himself to her as an army captain before she would even think of respect him. She felt that because he was born into a place of respect, he didn't have to be respected.
"Chen, come up here," Shen ordered her. She obeyed and rode her horse parallel to his.
"What you were talking about, the entire Hun army being beaten by a single soldier, you were talking about Mulan, weren't you?" he asked.
"Indeed I was."
"Are you aware that my family and hers are close?"
"I am."
"Are you aware she has a son and a daughter?"
"I am."
"Do you say anything but 'I am, and indeed I was'?"
"What do you think?" she responded. He grumbled slightly and they rode the rest of the way in silence.
The camp had been set up when they got there. The tents for the Prince, the supervising council member and the kitchen had been set up. The men had brought their own tents and set them up around the camp. Lian set hers up just up of the camp under a cherry tree beginning to bloom. Now she stood in the lineup the next morning in her training clothes. She saw a log sticking vertically in the ground and sighed. She stood at the end of the line farthest from the log so hopefully she'd be last. She noticed a young man sitting in front of one of the big tents writing on some paper in his lap. Shen walked out in front of the line of people, taking off his overcoat and throwing it to the ground behind him. He walked back and forth along the row of men starting by the log. When he got back to where he started he pulled out a bow and arrow and shot it to the top of the log. If he had gripped the bow tighter the shot would have been swifter, Lian thought.
"You," Shen said pointing to the man closest to him, "retrieve the arrow. But don't forget these," he said as the man walked over to the pole. Shen handed him one round stone tied to a strap.
"This signifies discipline," he said as the man's hand fell under its weight.
"And this signifies strength," Lian whispered.
"And this signifies strength," Shen said as the man's other hand dropped to the ground.
"You need both to reach the arrow," Lian whispered.
"You need both to reach the arrow," Shen said. The man tried, he failed. As did the next, and the one after that and so on, by the time it was Lians' turn the arrow was still stuck in the top of the pole, and Shen looked like he lost all hope. Lian grabbed the straps and easily carrying them to the log, she turned her head slightly just to give Shen a grin. He noticed this and looked at her curiously. Lian swung the stones around the back of the pole so they wound together. She used them to easily climb her way to the top of the pole and throw the arrow at Shen's feet. She had to admit, it felt good being so good at something every other man failed at. She climbed down the pole and handed Shen the weights hard, "Size doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the soldier." And then got back into line, knowing very well every man there was looking at her in shock, and Prince Shen was pissed.
The rest of the day went like that. She already excelled at everything Shen was teaching them. She even helped some of the other men. Then it came time for Shen to stand at the ledge with a staff and a bucket of water on his head. In three groups of ten the men each picked up a stone and threw them at Shen. Shen repelled every one of them. Lian had to admit he was good. She was in the second group. While every other man picked up the smallest stones they could find, so they'd be harder to hit, Lian picked up a medium sized one. When Shen told them to throw all the other men threw rocks right at him. Lian threw her rock up into the air and landed it perfectly in the bucket of water with a "plunk" sound. The sound made Shen look up by instinct and hence making him drop the bucket of water from his head. He didn't get wet but he still didn't look pleased. Her father hadn't been pleased when she first did that to him either. Her mother thought it had been hilarious. Lian smiled remembering her mother laughing so hard as her father picked up the bucket. Shen handed the staff to Lian and shoved her to the ledge. He placed a bucket of water on her head and told the third group to take aim. Lian readied herself as all the rocks came flying at her. As she expected they were all medium-sized and were thrown to land in the bucket. She repelled them all easily. Shen picked up a small stone and threw it at her stomach after all the others had been repelled. Lian dropped a hand and caught the stone quickly. She looked up at him and stared into his eyes, she walked up to him with the bucket on her head and handed the stone back to Shen, "Nice try your sir."