During the reign of Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei, the Rouran advanced southward, and the imperial court conscripted soldiers from every household. To save her father from being conscripted back to the battlefield, the young woman Mulan bound up her hair and donned armor, enlisting in the army in the name of Hua. Over ten years of service, she repeatedly turned the tide of battle through observation and strategy: foiling night assassins, protecting wounded soldiers, slaying Huyan Lie, and leading nine hundred and twenty-seven battered troops in a desperate defense of Rouxuan Garrison until reinforcements finally arrived. She rose to become the commander bearing the Central Army's command flag. After the war, she resigned her post and returned home; only when she laid aside her armor and changed into civilian clothes did her comrades realize their captain was a woman. The loom sounds once more — she remains the young girl who sometimes wove cloth unevenly.