Sending straw men to scam arrows from the enemy, for one. Sending small grease-laden boats to burn the enemy's chained-together ships when a wise man predicts that there will be wind to turn the tide of the battle, for another. A variant of empty city strat, when He Yan's master sits atop the city gates with his Qin and deters the enemy after most of the city has already evacuated and there aren't enough troops, although he's more OP and deals real damage with his arrays compared to Zhuge Liang's bluff.

First one; the teacher of the FL and his sweetheart the queen. Second one; Yan he and his wife. Both times the male dies.

The first one was already super sad but the second one was just heartbreaking. First letting us see him as an arrogant/agressive general. Later seeing him love his wife wholeheartedly and bragging about her. To then just letting him slowly die in the war when he was looking forward to seeing his child get born and looking forword to being a great dad. It really ripped my heart apart.

Although you can't really say it was a couple but the Chu guy (second ML) and the maid were also pretty tragic. I was actually rooting for the 2 but there is always a guy who can't get over the FL even years later. I just don't like that concept but it gets repeated so many time. I hoped he would have a happy ending with the maid but that went to hell because of the crown prince and Chu's stempother&fiance. But even if that didn't happen, the author would probably make it so that he still wouldn't get over the FL even if she's by his side.

He deserved a better ending. His life just too cruel without any real choice. The only options he had where between two kinds of hell. The maid once said that she knew his cruel side but I don'tagree with that. He didn't have much choice and had to be cruel but it wasn't something he liked. It was pretty clear because he was never cruel if he didn't have to be. If circumstances allowed it, he would always choose the kind way. So he really deserved a haply ending or at least an ending where he gets over the FL. But even that wasn't granted

Because the moment the ML realizes his feelings, the conspiracies and intrigue that was built ul slowly, gets solved pretty fast so that the focus can be more on the relationship progress. Not that I'm complaining. Their relationship is great and funny. Just a little disappointing how the built up was amounted to one big action and ML handing all the other evidence afterwards.

Maybe because it was a daughter but well, I've seen too many MLs like this that make it hard for their children just so that they hand over their responsibilies to them to have more time with the FL and explore the world together

PS: the villain died so easily in my opinion. maybe cause he's already so old and had no sons to take over? a son-in-law can be viewd as a son somewhat but will never compare to a biological one. There's lot of plot holes in the end but more importantly SEND A KNIFE TO THE AUTHOR!!! WHY DID YOU KILL THE LIVELIEST ONE OF THE BUNCH????? Hate you hate you.......i cried a river cause of you! imma gonna find ice now my eyes are swollen. Author also has great opinions about love. many cahracters are left single by choice and author-made circumstances like being killed by said author........ humhumhumhum

She protects her new family, and when she is forced into a tight corner, she rejoins the army in disguise as a man and collects military merits under her own name. Although her new body is weak, she has all the skills and knowledge of her previous life as a great General, and her diligent training helps her regain her physical prowess with every weapon. One of my favourite scenes is her sword fight with the ML.

The first third of the story involves the FL adapting and getting recognition for her military skills. The middle third involves the FL and ML going on adventures. The last third of the story has the couple return to the capital. There, the FL encounters her ex-classmates who are now powerful men, and with the ML's help, unravels the conspiracies against her, exposes the villains publicly, clears her previous name, reveals her exquisite swordsmanship and her gender, earns rewards, builds a glorious new life for herself and opens up avenues for other women to have careers. There is more emphasis on the imperial politics and succession, and some friends died in battle, but I was satisfied with her happy ending.

They had previously met when she was her male cousin in school, and again when she was a blind madam. They have a lot of fate together. The ML realizes He Yan is a woman in chapter 100, and figures out the clues to solve her previous life's identity/secret/rebirth in chapters 191-216. When he realizes how much she lost in her previous life, he vows to help her regain it all in this life.

1. 1. Wish MC told ML the whole truth early on. She had all their memories and experience as evidence. The reason she didn't is because of her inferiority.

1. 1. Still, I felt the ML was too suspicious, nonetheless. She sacrificed herself for their garrison multiple times. Regardless if she's hiding something, it's obvious she's not their enemy.

1. 1. ML fell for her too late - she had a sad life, growing up, no familial love, no friends, bullied at school, couldn't get close to anyone bcz of her special identity, while all the time, ML still had ppl by his side. And no matter what she went through, there is no one as kind and just as her. She really is very good in all aspects, not sure what took him so long...

1. 1. Even Liu buwang fell for that arrogant, spoiled, selfish and useless Mu Hongjin (I saw no good qualities in her, other than: she's not evil) in a month, yet ML took so long to fall for this amazing FL, it's really insulting.

1. 1. MC's mother - both readers, MC, the author seem to not realise the gravity of what she did. She stood by while her daughter was being killed. She protested against it, when her family discussed it and that's it. Still did nothing to try to stop it or warn MC at least. Yet at the end she managed to escape from the manor to appear before the emperor. For her to stand by while her daughter was killed, I don't know how is she not portrayed as a horrible mother.
      
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But why did she lie? Even she couldn't come up with a reason that would be acceptable.

Xiao Jue bent down to pick up the broken sword on the ground. The long sword in his hand had been cut into two by He Yan's Drinking Autumn.

He Yan silently watched his movements. When he straightened up, she asked, "Do you know everything now?"

"More or less, " Xiao Jue's gaze was calm. "You are the deceased wife of Xu Zhiheng, and also the masked He Rufei."

The words "deceased wife" struck He Yan like a blow. It was as if the most unwilling-to-be-discovered secret had been exposed, revealing a hint of embarrassment. She, who had always faced thousands of troops on the battlefield without fear, now, at this moment, felt a sense of retreat when facing this person.

These two daughters had completely different temperaments, so Second Madam He naturally assumed that He Yan was naturally strong, while He Xinying was naturally in need of love.

seriosly? after everythign you owe MC? you should have felt guilty and tried to take care of her even more than the 2nd daughter, who grew up privileged

"It's not that I want to go down this path, " Chu Zhao interrupted him. "It's that I never had another path to take."

Not true. MC went through something just as bad, yet she is kind even to those cruel to her. The moment CZ realised his master didn't even care abt him, he could have started devising his downfall and could have helped MC and ML after he met them, switching over to the other side.

As the story progresses, we are shown a lot of flashbacks to her time as her brother. A lot of these flashbacks involve the ML as he was apparently helping her. He helped to teach her swordfighting, rescued her several times and even fed her when she didn't want to kill an animal during a hunting competition. Unfortuantely, she was EQ stunted, due to the constraints of her family, and never realized it was him who helped her all those times.

After she went back to her female identity, and was rendered blind by her brother, the ML was also the person who helped her choose to live. He saved her life when she tried to commit su*cide and then coaxed her by saying she could still be the best blind person around. Unfortunately, that led to her death in her first life but it was something the MC never forgot.

The ML is responsible for the MC managing to succeed in the Academy (still at the bottom of their class) as he helped her improve her swordsmanship. He also helped her out in other ways throughout her time in the Academy and was even about to reveal himself as her hidden backer, but she had run away to join the army by that point.

He didn't fully interact with her again until she became Madame Xu, where he prevented her from committing su*cide.

Once he figures out that the MC was both the Phoenix General and Madame Xu, he realizes that he "missed" her twice. He also, nearly immediately, goes to her first life's brother and nearly kills him because he knew that it was the brother who had orchestrated everything.

The Young Noble was pretty terrible, he intended to force the second He Yan and do as he liked before he would kill her and send her body back to her family. During a scuffle, he gets accidentally stabbed with his own dagger and dies. This is then the point at which the MC flees the capital to join the military. There is mention that his family harassed the MC's second family and then their names were mentioned again as the ones who potentially tried to assassinate the MC towards the end of the second third of the book. After that, they were completely forgotten.

The relative who became a concubine of the MC's original husband gets mu*dered, and all of her servants are killed (except for one because plot has got to plot). The excuse used in the story was that she did something to displease the elder Madame and was let go like a normal servant. Yet this doesn't arouse any suspicion. Then there is the maiden family (which is of both the MC's original life and the concubine), who does nothing. While the plot could be considered valid as outsiders care little about the happenings in different families, this was the in-law family of the famous Phoenix General. You would think that even the poor people in the Capital would be discussing that gossip but it's all glossed over by the author.

The female doctor, on the other hand, was a bit weirdly handled. The author writes her as super intelligent and a kind woman who had followed the ML to the military camp because she was interested in him. Despite being around him for years, he never showed any interest other than giving her the rewards he received that were useless to him as a man (such as silk that was in "womanly" colors" and skin cream). His other actions make it clear that he's not interested, as he just leaves her behind repeatedly. Her IQ apparently drops below sentient level because she chooses to expose the gender of the MC in front of the Emperor. Never mind that this could potentially result in the deaths of her family, the death of the man who liked her and did the exposing for her, or the destruction of their entire household (at either the hands of the Emperor or that of the ML). After the revelation, she is confined to her family's home and never shows up again.

Seriously. He learns she is a woman and is more hung up on that than the fact that there was no plausible explanation for her to be able to recite war manuals. Her father was just a guardsman in the capital, her brother wasn't even a student for most of their life, and she had been a spoiled girl.

But, story has got to story.

The MC's first life's death was literally just because her brother felt like he was always living in her shadow. He convinced their family with the whole reasoning that she was the real Phoenix General, and there was the potential for it to be revealed so she had to die.

The super Minister who orchestrated everything in the capital didn't know her brother was fake. Nor did the Prince whom they were both associated with.

His identity as the fake General was revealed in front of all the ministers (and the envoys from an enemy kingdom) after he lost a duel against the MC. The story does reference collecting evidence, but it is literally the MC's first life's birth mother stepping forward, claiming that she was being poisoned and revealing everything that happened to the MC's first life.

It genuinely felt like the author wrote themselves into a corner for that.

At the first of the story, we're introduced to several of MC's new brothers-in-arms at the military camp. At the middle, we're introduced to her main rival from her previous life's days at the Academy. And then we see them all saying goodbye to their families as they go off to war (death flags aplenty).

It's not all that surprising that half of those characters die (even if it was pretty heartwrenching) but then we read that the MC went into battle before it jumps to someone else's PoV. Her fate is left hanging for several chapters and we are only told that the ML reads a letter that she was injured.

This continues on to the return of her army and she is not riding in with them. We're led to believe that she died (or something) as the ML does not see her at all during the procession. Only to find her standing against the wall and waiting for him instead of riding in with her troops.

When FL was trying to impress the ml, as an ex general, didn't she realize how it would be too suspicious for a 15/16 year old to be so skilled?

Of course, it is necessary to have some deaths during the war and I was prepare for the gang to be affected (the build up was there) but I didn't expect to be affected by Yan He and Chu Zilan's loyal maid's deaths. Chu Zilan deserves what he got by sacrificing that girl.