{"id":11035,"date":"2014-12-01T07:56:21","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T14:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/?p=11035"},"modified":"2016-02-06T18:04:04","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T01:04:04","slug":"mulan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/?p=11035","title":{"rendered":"Mulan"},"content":{"rendered":"

written by Hitomi<\/em><\/p>\n

They say I was a heroine, a daughter who had gone to fight on the stead of her aging father.\u00a0 They say that I had put on a man\u2019s armor and kept that secret for twelve years.\u00a0 They said I fought many battles bravely against the nomadic tribe Rouran and won many victories, returning to the imperial capital in triumph and high praise, the emperor offering a high post only to be declined on the plead of my wishing to go back to my father\u2019s home, replacing my military attire with that of a plain farm girl and lived the rest of my days in peace and happiness\u2026<\/p>\n

They were all wrong.<\/p>\n

For the first thing, Mulan was not my name.
\nIt was the name of my clan, one of the eight Xianbei clans with long history that dated back into obscurity. We Xianbei had once been like the Rouran; we lived in the plain where one could not see the edge of the great green grass.\u00a0 We had been nomads until driven by greed and promise of a more luxurious life; we migrated south into the land of the Hans.\u00a0 Petty kingdoms rose and fell until finally one Xianbei leader united us all and founded a great dynasty, ruling all the land north of the Yangtze: the Wei. Our rulers intermarried with the original Han inhabitants, adopted their dress codes and habits, called themselves Sons of Heaven and lay back in newly discovered pleasures of life: silk, fine wines, submissive women from the south until the predators became the prey, the invaders in turn invaded, by the Rourans.\u00a0 They said that Rourans were wolves and the Wei was sheep.\u00a0 Our emperors had sent expeditions after expeditions against the evasive enemies, who could attack like the dragon winds and disappeared as if they were mirages found in the Gobi desert.\u00a0 If we marched out in strength, they dispersed in front of our eyes; if they caught us in inferior number, they slaughter us, like sheep.<\/p>\n

My name is Mulan Ling, the name \u201cling\u201d, a referral to my voice for being melodious and charming like a bell, a silver bell.\u00a0 I did not join the expedition force because I wanted to go and fight on my father\u2019s stead.\u00a0 I was pressed into service, they fully knowing I was a woman.\u00a0 I was not alone; there were hundreds of us, young girls who could ride and draw bows, as most of our Xianbei womenfolk could, were rounded up and told to march north.\u00a0 The long years of war between the Wei and the Rouran Khanate had bled the empire white and it was no longer feasible to supply new recruits to replace those bones bleached white in the White Mountains.<\/p>\n

My father\u2019s bones were among them.\u00a0 And so were the bones of many fathers and brothers of my comrade-in-arms.\u00a0 No, we did not go to seek revenge.\u00a0 For who were the murders of our kin?\u00a0 The fierce Rouran warriors on sturdy ponies, or the nobles who got fat on feasting in Loyang on the people\u2019s toil and sweat? I do not know, we do not know.\u00a0 After a while, we no longer cared.\u00a0 We fought to survive, to live another day, our only dream was that one day, some of us, even one of us, would be able to return to the village alive and continue to live, to live for all of us who would scatter our bones under the cold moonlight of the White Mountains.<\/p>\n

There were eight hundred of us when we started, riding side by side as we forded the Yellow River, slept in each other\u2019s arms for warmth and comfort, given rudimentary training when we reached the Great Wall.\u00a0 They did not think much of us, expecting us to fall like flies or melt like snow in the early spring.\u00a0 There were eight hundred of us, sisters by fate.\u00a0 Within a month, the number was reduced to half.\u00a0 Those who fell were the luckier ones.\u00a0 They were stricken down by the cold, the hunger and frostbites.\u00a0 At least they were given a common burial.\u00a0 Sisters lay in heaps, hand in hand, in eternal slumber in a mass grave.\u00a0 Later casualties were left for the howling wolves to feast on.\u00a0 We fought our first battle near an icy river.\u00a0 We lost another half of our number, many made into feathered-birds by the multitude of arrows sticking out from their young bodies.\u00a0 But we had fought hard and repelled attacks after attacks, the will to survive finally overcoming fear, the sense of comradeship lifted by a sense of pride.\u00a0 We are the daughters of Xianbei!\u00a0 The male counterparts of our army gave us a grudging respect, the enemies swallowed their vanity and unless in vastly superior number, tried to avoid going into battle against the troop with a banner decorated with flower motifs. If the Rourans were wolves and the Wei were sheep, the Xianbei women were tigresses.<\/p>\n

The survivors hanged on.\u00a0 Replacements later swelled our numbers again after each battle to replace those fallen, until finally, there were few and far in between.\u00a0 Even the womenfolk had been bled white.\u00a0 We were left on our own, to fight or to perish.<\/p>\n

If there was anyone who did most to increase our odds of survival, it would definitely be our commander, Mulan Xing.\u00a0 True to her namesake, she had the face of an apricot in full bloom. But the appearance was deceiving.\u00a0 Instead of being sweet like the spring fruit, she was harsh to the point of cruelty, ensuring each one of us do exactly as she demanded.\u00a0 There was no tolerance of laxity.\u00a0 No excuses were accepted in force marches and maneuvers.\u00a0 Those who showed cowardice in battle were immediately executed, often by her own hands.\u00a0 We hated her so much that there no not one of us who would not wish her dead, that her head made into a drinking cup by the Rourans.\u00a0 We understood her better now, and knew if it was not for her demanding way, we would all be bones by now.\u00a0 I was the first one who saw another side of her.\u00a0 I saw her weep, silently, on her own behind a pile of boulders after ordering the execution of two deserters.\u00a0 One of them was her own cousin.<\/p>\n

\u201cSay a word and I will have your head roll!\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n

She did not have to warn me.\u00a0 I could feel her loneliness that very moment when her tears stream down her pretty face, like ice melting into spring brooks.\u00a0 Suddenly, I was aware of the heaviness on her pair of shoulders.\u00a0 She was not so much older than me.<\/p>\n

From them on, I changed from wishing her head becoming a drinking cup to watching out for her back.\u00a0 I have forgotten how many times I had directed an arrow just in time to save her from an expected nomad lance or axe.\u00a0 I had buried my dagger into the backs of men who had thrown themselves upon her, brought her down and was about to slit her throat.\u00a0 I had held my shield to ward off incoming missiles, even catching one on my arm one time to save her skin.\u00a0 She never openly acknowledged her debt to me, but in private, she had treated me like a little sister, taught me skills on how to keep low when too many arrows fly and how to maximize the agility of our female bodies to the best advantage to compensate for the superior brutal strength of men.\u00a0 I became her bodyguard, her inseparable.<\/p>\n

The years went by and the war dragged on.\u00a0 We lost count of the number of new moons we saw, hung like a giant hook in the northern sky.\u00a0 We camped in winter, fought in summer, died in any season, at any spot, for any reason.\u00a0 We talked of homes around small campfires when such would run little risk of attracting enemies; we talked about parents, sweethearts who had been drafted to serve in other units, never knowing if they were still alive; we talked of the joys of harvest, the warmth of a hearth, the hope of spring.\u00a0 We remembered fallen sisters, their last cries and then we fell into silence so deep that we could hear the aching tremble of our hearts. We have not lost our dream: some of us, even one of us, to go home and tell them the stories, the pains and the sacrifice, and to live the life for those whose fate was with the White Mountains, the wolves, the forgotten.<\/p>\n

Spring returned. Wildflowers bloomed on the hill-side where the snow of the previous winter swept away any sign of our fallen comrades. We never imagined that there could be flowers in the White Mountains before we set out for war.\u00a0 Now we knew.\u00a0 Of course there were flowers.\u00a0 The flesh and blood of the sleeping warriors beneath the hard soil made wonderful nutrients.<\/p>\n

\u201cSing us a song, Ling!\u201d They said.<\/p>\n

I shook my head, partly shy and partly because I thought it disrespectful to sing before a mass grave of sort.<\/p>\n

\u201cSing, Ling. I wish to hear a song too.\u201d Xing joined their request.<\/p>\n

I could not refuse.<\/p>\n

The west wind rises outside my window,
\nThe wild geese made their flight south,
\nEvery day I went up and looked
\nAnd saw only traders return
\nWhere is my beloved daughter?
\nI can only send her winter clothes every fall,
\nDusk closes in
\nHow few the returning birds\u2026?<\/p>\n

It was an adaptation from a Han song that my father once taught me.<\/p>\n

They wept.<\/p>\n

We received our orders and rode out.\u00a0 It was another wild chase.\u00a0 The Rouran main army refused to engage ours and only made sneak attacks on detached forces.\u00a0 Men and women on both sides died, without any good reason to die for.<\/p>\n

It was nearly early autumn that Xing came back with the news. One of the generals had devised a grand strategy.\u00a0 We would feed the Rourans decoy troops.\u00a0 When their main army rushed to eliminate the isolated camp, our main army would close in and finish them once and for all.\u00a0 The problem was: who would like to become the decoy?\u00a0 They would be like lambs thrown to the wolves with little hope of survival for the troop must make their stand long enough for the two arms of the imperial army to converge from far away positions, unsuspecting to the Rourans who would be lusting for their blood.\u00a0 To encourage volunteers for the job, it was decided that any survivor of the decoy unit after the battle would be disbanded and allowed to return to their home village.<\/p>\n

None of the generals offered their own troops. What good was it to be given freedom if the chance of surviving was so marginal?<\/p>\n

When Xing put this before us, there was absolute silence among the girls.<\/p>\n

We had been fighting for years now, for some, nearly twelve years.\u00a0 How long would we have to go on before we have chance to see our home village?\u00a0 The war could drag on for years more, decades even.\u00a0 Maidens would grow old; parents back in the villages would die in despair one by one.\u00a0 We would never see our lovers again, even if they were still alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommander, we can go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xing looked at each one of us, her lieutenants and sisters who had gone through so much all these years.\u00a0 There were tears in her eyes, as in all ours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about those under you?\u00a0 Will they be willing?\u201d Xing asked.<\/p>\n

We nodded.\u00a0 We knew their hearts.\u00a0 We were all sisters.<\/p>\n

The whole battalion was lined up.<\/p>\n

Xing addressed them and explained what was in store.\u00a0 She wanted only volunteers as any unwilling participant would only put the unit in peril.\u00a0 It was a hopeless fight against overwhelming odds.\u00a0 But if we succeeded, the ones that could still stand would be free to go home.<\/p>\n

She asked anyone who was reluctant to go step forward.\u00a0 No punishment would be melted out. None made any move.<\/p>\n

Xing nodded. \u201cI am proud of you all.\u00a0 You are all my sisters.\u00a0 Let us make one pledge.\u00a0 For those who do survive and return to our village, they should take care of our elders as if they too, are of her same flesh and blood.\u00a0 Let no father or mother weep for the loss of their daughter, for all are their daughters.\u00a0 We are One!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are One!\u201d We shouted.<\/p>\n

The White Mountain trembled with our echoes.<\/p>\n

How could I describe the battle?<\/p>\n

Six hundred of us, many of them no more than girls, rode into the valley of death and threw up a defense perimeter with sacks of sand and rocks.\u00a0 We toiled nonstop as we knew the Rourans would come for us.\u00a0 The flower banner was too tempting a target for them to ignore.<\/p>\n

They came.\u00a0 Even at a distance, the dust kicked up by the hooves of their war ponies darkened the morning sun. The earth trembled and so did our legs.\u00a0 It was hard not to feel fear when death stared us in the eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSing for us, Ling.\u00a0 One last song.\u201d<\/p>\n

I wiped the teardrops from my eyes.\u00a0 Was I afraid to die?\u00a0 May be I was, but I was more afraid to fail them.\u00a0 My throat was choked by dust and fear.\u00a0 How could I sing?<\/p>\n

We could see the first line of enemy riders now: more than two thousand at least.\u00a0 And they were just the vanguards.<\/p>\n

\u201cSing, Ling, sing!\u201d they pleaded.<\/p>\n

I picked a tune.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce in the land of a mighty empire.
\nSix hundred daughters put on their fighting dress,
\nNot for fame, or glory or riches,
\nBut for love of their homeland,
\nThey rode north, armor-clad,
\nMany will fall in battle,
\nMany may never see dawn,
\nBut inside the hearts of each of them
\nIs the pledge of a sisterhood drawn
\nNever shall we fail my sister
\nWho counts on my shield or bow,
\nMy life I willingly offer
\nFor our love is more precious than gold
\nAnd if you happen to pass a mountain side of sunflowers
\nAll their faces looking south,
\nDo not tread, I pray you horsemen,
\nFor it is their homeland they face and cannot return somehow.
\nSix hundred maidens who never bask for glory
\nBut resolved to have their duty done.
\nShall make a stand in this valley
\nAnd fight as We are One!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are One!\u201d came back the shout.<\/p>\n

And then the arrows began to fly.<\/p>\n

Riders fell from their saddles, horses neighed in horror and confusion, horns blown, another wave of riders broke upon the front made of shields and young bodies.\u00a0 Bones shattered, bodies crushed, daggers and spears driven into torsos, male and female, cries, horror, revived courage, lines broken and reformed, charges and counter-charges, heads and arms flew, streams of blood trailing behind, as if rainbows of pure crimson red\u2026<\/p>\n

I followed Xing everywhere, each sing of my bows echoed with the drop of a foe.\u00a0 I saw Xing using her lance to unsaddle a Rouran warrior of high rank, pulled it out and sank it into another, this time carrying a battle flag.\u00a0 I let go two shafts, my last ones, and then drew my dagger and rushed forward.\u00a0 \u00a0So did the company of young women warriors behind me.\u00a0 The fight became a melee, breasts were stabbed, throats slit, heads sent flying from torsos showing feminine grace.<\/p>\n

We lost over half of our number, but we held.<\/p>\n

The enemy was beaten back and was in a rout.<\/p>\n

We cheered.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not be happy so soon.\u00a0 They will come back.\u00a0 Form your line!\u201d Xing shouted.<\/p>\n

And sure they did.<\/p>\n

This time, it was their heavy cavalry.<\/p>\n

We took up long lances and formed lines, the front line kneeling and the rear resting their long shafts on the shoulders of the kneeling ones.\u00a0 \u00a0The crash of the enemies was like the tides breaking on the rocks that my father had once took me to see. We thrust and jab, blood staining our armor, our faces, our arms, our shifts underneath that had turned into little more than rags over the seasons. The girl to my right shrieked, a spear planted squarely into her left breast.\u00a0 I would never forget those eyes of despair.\u00a0 She would not be one who would see her homeland again.\u00a0 The girl replacing her position fell almost immediately, her throat cut by a sweeping blade from a rider.\u00a0 I tilted my lance upward and avenged her by piercing the laughing Rouran man through his ear and brought him crashing down.\u00a0 His own horse tramped on him, I heard his bones cracked under the hooves.<\/p>\n

Xing was slashing with her sword, her whole body exposed in her reckless position.<\/p>\n

\u201cXing, be careful!\u201d I shouted as I saw one enemy charging her with a horizontally placed spear.\u00a0 Xing managed to side step the point just in time, making an upward swing with her sword that cleaved the rider\u2019s skull into halves.\u00a0 I breathed relief but it came too early.\u00a0 Another rider swept in amidst the dust and it was too late for
\nXing to parry the thrust.\u00a0 Instead, she dropped her sword and caught the shaft of the spear in time.\u00a0 The powerful momentum of the beast threw her body backwards for several feet before she landed onto a heap of bodies. The rider made another thrust and this time Xing could not get away.\u00a0 I froze in horror as I saw the weapon sank into the cleft between her breast-plates!<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d I struggled forward to where she was.\u00a0 The rider had dismounted now, a dagger in hand, his hideous face beaming with anticipation.\u00a0 He was going for her head.\u00a0 I got there just when he was raising the dagger for a stab into her neck.\u00a0 His eyes went wide when he felt the cold of my blade against his throat, and then the warm blood oozing out.\u00a0 I threw his heavy body sideways and looked for Xing. She was lying helpless there, still breathing as her chest rose and fell.\u00a0 Another enemy was stripping her of her armor and had just succeeded in tearing away the breast armor and bodice.\u00a0 It was the first time I saw her naked torso and the beauty stunned me.\u00a0 She should have made such a lovely bride, bringing happiness to any man lucky enough to have her as a wife.\u00a0 The full breasts were crowned with pinkish nipples, like rosebuds.\u00a0 Her shoulders, strengthened by years of fighting, were still slender in shape.\u00a0 Her helmet had gone, the cascade of black hair tumbled down as a roll of black silk. The warrior had caught it in his rough hand and straightening it, was about to place the board sword to decapitate the beautiful head with its large round eyes.\u00a0 I yelled and charged.\u00a0 The man heard me, turned, only to catch the tip of my lance in his stomach.<\/p>\n

\u201cXing, Xing, do not give up.\u00a0 You will be fine!\u201d I held her close, assuring her.\u00a0 I had lost all sense of danger, people were fighting and dying around me, like flies and I did not care.\u00a0 I would die by her side, holding her and she understood it through my eyes.<\/p>\n

She raised a hand and wiped away the tear.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not cry, or die!\u00a0 Lead them.\u00a0 Take them home, for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not leaving you here!\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded. \u201cGive me your dagger.\u201d She said. \u201cI want to fight still.\u201d<\/p>\n

I gave her the dagger and she smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehind you!\u201d\u00a0 She shouted.<\/p>\n

I jumped and turned but found no immediate danger.\u00a0 Then I turned around again and saw Xing had slit her own throat.<\/p>\n

She knew she had no chance to make it.\u00a0 And only by dying would she free me from the duty of guarding over her.<\/p>\n

I hugged her and cried my heart out.\u00a0 Finally, sorrow gave way to anger.\u00a0 I rose, took up the Flower banner which had half-fallen on the side.<\/p>\n

\u201cSisters! Follow me!\u201d And I led the charge.<\/p>\n

There were so few of us, so many of them.\u00a0 We should have been slaughtered like lambs. But if the Rourans were wolves, we were tigresses!\u00a0 The enemy reeled in terror as one after another their chiefs, now coming to the fore, eager for spoil were struck down.\u00a0 To them, we were a pack of angry ghosts from hell, unstoppable!<\/p>\n

Of course, over time, we would all be killed.\u00a0 There were just too many of them.\u00a0 Our arms had become weary of slaughtering; our numbers reduced to a little more than a handful.\u00a0 We formed a miserable line that awaited the final onslaught.\u00a0 I looked around.\u00a0 There was determination, anger, even sorrow.\u00a0 I did not see fear.<\/p>\n

The game suddenly turned.\u00a0 The mass of horsemen facing us, getting ready to finish us off, were thrown into confusion.\u00a0 A blanket of arrows found their marks and men and beasts tumbled headlong into the sand.\u00a0 Our main force had finally arrived for the kill.<\/p>\n

There were only ten of us.\u00a0 All the others were dead.<\/p>\n

We buried Xing and the others in a huge grave in the valley.\u00a0 When we left the place, I looked back and saw the few sunflowers here and there. By next summer, there would be a blanket of them.<\/p>\n

The war ended. The Rourans submitted and paid their homage to the emperor.
\nHe was hugely pleased by his victory over the barbarians, forgetting we Xianbe also belonged to the category of barbarians not that long ago.\u00a0 He was not so pleased to learn of the effort of the six hundred maidens who sacrificed their lives to bring about the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat? My victory brought by women? Nonsense!\u00a0 Besides, why were they allowed in the army?\u00a0 Is it not true that any woman pretending to be man in the army should be summarily executed?\u201d He roared.<\/p>\n

He would have beheaded us, to wipe out any trace of our existence so as to make his victory complete.\u00a0 But his chief ministers advised him that it would hurt his popularity of the people.\u00a0 \u201cMight it far better if history will sing to the wisdom and leniency of Your Majesty if there is such a legend, err\u2026say one daughter in your realm who disguised herself as a young man to fight for her aging father?\u201d<\/p>\n

The emperor liked the idea.\u00a0 A battalion of women bringing about victory was an insult to his prowess, a threat; a single girl was just a legend and would be an acceptable pearl to his annals of rule.<\/p>\n

He had us marched back to our hometown, threatening us on pains of death, not only for us but all our family if a single word leaked out.\u00a0 Instead, the story of a single heroine would be woven into a song, a patriotic one that would stir the hearts of young men to defend their fatherland.\u00a0 For if a girl could serve her country, why should any young man hesitate to defend the realm?<\/p>\n

We could not care less.<\/p>\n

The pens of history were always in the hands of the emperor and his men.\u00a0 They could say what they wanted.<\/p>\n

We reached our village.\u00a0 Out of a thousand daughters, ten returned, and honored their pledge to take care of all surviving parents.\u00a0 After twelve years of war and heart-breaking waiting, there were not really that many.<\/p>\n

Many men courted for my hand but I turned them all down.\u00a0 My destiny was not in the arms of any husband but in my voice.\u00a0 I sang at winter gatherings of villages, around warm fires around which the young and the old sat to listen to the feats of their daughters.\u00a0 Fearful of the wrath of the emperor, I weaved the story around one single girl, Mulan, a symbol of our collective sacrifice.\u00a0 The emperor\u2019s spies would report that all was in order.\u00a0 The folks understood and winked at the ruse.<\/p>\n

My story would not end here.\u00a0 There was one dream that I would realize.<\/p>\n

One day, I would return to the site of the last battle.\u00a0 I knew I would find it little changed.\u00a0 The wind would be caressing the sunflowers that grew out of courage and love of my sisters.\u00a0 They would nod with the breeze as if my sisters were waving at me.\u00a0 I would wave back and sing.\u00a0 And they would be able to listen and have peace.<\/p>\n

(End)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She was forced to go to battle, pressed into service along with other females of her village. But the long war decimated the ranks of her sister warriors until one last, desperate gambit gave the few remaining the hope that if they survived they would be permitted to return to their village.<\/p>\n

…and thus, a legend was born… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-author","category-hitomistories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11035"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11050,"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11035\/revisions\/11050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riwaslibrary.com\/story\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}