Ping (Disney's 'Mulan' in Shang's POV)

Chapter 1: The Big Day

The first rays of sun filtered through the tent flaps at what seemed like the same time as his eyelids begin to flutter open. Li Shang let out a grumbled moan as he unkinked his legs from underneath his blanket and stretched his arms over his head, hands linked and upper abdominal muscles elongating and loosening. He took a few minutes to blink the sleep out of his eyes and reminisce at the fleeting memories of dreams leaving his mind before quickly bolting upright and squinting at the sliver of sky visible between the tent flaps to check the placement of the sun in the sky. He sighed a relief that he hadn't slept too long; this was not a morning he wanted to be running behind.

For this was the day Shang had been dreaming of since the first day his father allowed him to tag along to one of his numerous training camps. Ten-year-old Shang could barely sit still as he watched his father, General Li, take control of a band of misfit boys and transform them into honorable, courageous, and stealthy warriors capable and fully willing to risk their lives for those of the Emperor and the citizens of China.

Shang always admired his father's selfless and courageous actions even before he fully realized what it is his father actually did everyday and how important he was in keeping the very life Shang knew peaceful and safe. Only once he was old enough to accompany his father to the training field did Shang realize that hard work, discipline, and focus was the key to be a successful leader to others and a true way to bring honor to your family and country. Shang could only wish he could possess a fraction of these traits that his father demonstrated to his son and to his fellow soldiers as he trained and led others to their full potential.

And today was the day his father would begin the passing of 'the family business' to his only son, the one he trained from age ten until his current age of eighteen in his likeness, by sealing his decision in making Shang the youngest captain the Imperial Army by assigning him his first patrol of soldiers to train. As Shang changed his clothes and donned his captains uniform and secured his hair in a tight bun high on the crown of his head, he had to remind himself of the true reason for the need of this new patrol. For it wasn't only a test of how well Shang could lead and teach others the skills of combat he learned through his days in training, he was in charge of training a new set of fearless and capable warriors to protect China against ruthless and ferocious invaders. For it had only been recently that the Imperial Army was made aware of an oncoming attack on the Great Wall from an army of Hun warriors, led by the very dangerous and mysterious Shan Yu. Though it was almost guaranteed that the head army, led by General Li himself, could handle the situation on their own, it was standard policy to have a supporting patrol in the works, especially since it wasn't clear yet how vast and numerous in size the Hun army actually was.

So here he was, making his way across the lightly-crowded training field towards the food tent, on the morning of his first official day as Captain of the second patrol in the Imperial Army. Shang graciously accepted the bowl of white rice and pair of chopsticks being offered to him from the outstretched hands of the cook, who greeted him warmly and gave him a quick bow of his head. Shang returned the pleasantries and he exited the food tent and made his way to his father's strategy tent. He glanced at the passing view of the training grounds, newly peppered with tents and huts around its perimeter, gradually becoming populated with fresh-faced recruits that would soon become members of his army. Shang frowned slightly as he noticed many young, out of shape boys that reminded him that he was in charge of the backup army behind his father's more experienced and better equipped army. For the members of his father's army were made up of mostly volunteered and willing members, whereas Shang's would be made up of suddenly-recruited members; one man from each family of the surrounding villages most effected by the unexpected invasion of the Huns. Since the most experienced and willing men would undoubtingly join the military during peaceful times in order to be fully trained and ready for any possible threats, it was sort of understandable that the sudden second pick of available men would be the less experienced and more ill-prepared for combat. Shang was fully aware of this, but was hoping a little selfishly that he would still be able to score a couple of fully willing and capable soldiers.

Shang drew back his attention to the matter at hand as he entered his father's strategy tent. Sitting at a table covered in maps and strategy markers sat his father, dressed in his generals uniform and sitting on the farthest end of the table, flanked by Chi Fu, the royal advisor and scribe for the emperor, and a couple of his father's soldiers. As Shang entered the tent, his father instantly interrupted himself of the conversation he was having with the rest of the men and stood up to great his son.

"Ah, Shang, you're here!" General Li's voice bellowed from across the tent as he gestured for Shang to sit at an empty seat across the table from him. "You're just in time to discuss the most recent development of the fight against the Huns."

"I'm so honored to be part of this discussion, father," Shang replied as he joined his father as they resumed a sitting position around the table. It took all of Shang's concentration to settle his excited mind and to focus on the strategies being discussed while he tried to calmly shovel rice into his mouth. He still couldn't believe he was really being included in actual war strategy discussions and being trusted by his father to lead his own group of soldiers through basic training.

After the discussions were finalized and the decisions were made, Shang accompanied his father and the soldiers to their horses as they prepared to leave the training area and to meet up with the rest of the imperial army so they can finalize their preparation for the first wave of defense against the incoming Huns.

After mounting his horse, the General looked down at his son with what Shang could only hope was pride. "Here, I almost forgot." General Li reached into his saddle bag and handed his son a sheet of paper. "Here are the names of the recruits that will be forming your army." He smiled at Shang as his son accepted the paper. "And remember son, these men weren't raised in the military like you were. Some of them wouldn't of dreamed of joining the army, but they had no choice. I'm not saying go easy on them, just remember that they may be scared and unprepared. Have a bit of empathy for them."

"I will, father," Shang bowed his head respectfully to his father. "I won't let you down."

"I know you won't" General Li said as he nudged his horse forward, leading his soldiers towards the road leading out the training field. "I'll be in contact with you soon if anything new develops."

"Yes sir." Shang wished his father goodbye and he watched the horses until he couldn't make out their figures down the road anymore. With an anticipating sigh, Shang made his way back into the strategy tent as he looked at the list of names given to him. Not surprising to him, Shang didn't recognise any of the names on the list, though some of the family names were known to him from family members that were either in his father's army currently or who were once trained by the General over the years. But one name nearly made Shang lose his concentration and almost made him run into one of the supporting beams of the tent. did he read that correctly? Did that say 'Fa Zhou'? THE Fa Zhou?!? Shang couldn't believe his eyes. He remembered hearing stories of the young warrior his father trained with during his combat training and Shang couldn't forget how Fa Zhou risked his life to save others from foreign attacks. But wait, wasn't Fa Zhou a few years older then his father when he was first in the army? Surely he should have a male family member old enough to take his place for this recruitment? Suddenly some of the excitement from this morning leaked from Shang's sub conscious. What could he teach an already seasoned veteran that was old enough to be his father? Or what would his father say if he was responsible for pushing the old man too far in which he could hurt himself? Shang wasn't sure if he could handle that kind of pressure.

Luckily, he didn't have much time to sulk in his misfortune. A sudden loud commotion erupted from outside the tent, coming from the direction of the training field.

"What's going on out there?" He wondered as he folded the list into the waistband of his pants and stood up from his seat. He made his way to the closed flaps of the tent as he went to investigate the source of the racket. His eyes grew wide as his eyes focused on the commotion happening outside the food tent and spilling into the middle of the training field. A tangle of bodies, flying bowls of rice, and flapping chickens were erupting from below him, all seaming to originate from a crowd of recruits centered around where the cook's vat of rice was this morning and should still be currently, though it was hard to tell if it was still there anymore. The cook, a normally jolly older man dressed in whites and a cooking smock, was now covered head-to-toe in sticky rice and was wheeling a broken chopstick at a nearby equally-confused recruit.

Shang stared at the situation for a moment, not quite sure what he was looking at. running his hand over his hair, he begin to make his way towards the crazy site. Looks like he was in for the long haul for this one. "Here we go," Shang murmured to himself "let's get down to business."