Chapter 2

The northwestern desert truly was unforgiving.

Within three days of my arrival, my tender skin began to crack. Uncle told me to stay inside the command tent and even tried to have charcoal brought for me, but I refused.

“Uncle, this is the northwest. There is no room here for a pampered princess.

“Now that I’ve come, you must stop treating me as one.”

Uncle studied me for a long moment before replying,

“You should understand that even an ordinary woman could not survive here.”

I inclined my head.

“Then please teach me martial arts and let me study military strategy at your side. From today onward, I am simply another soldier under your command.”

Uncle froze, surprise flashing through his eyes.

He had not expected me to say first exactly what he had intended to tell me.

“Good!”

He broke into a delighted smile.

“If you wish to learn, I will hold nothing back!”

Uncle was the commander of the northwest, and his discipline was absolute.

Beginning the next day, he ordered me to rise at dawn and train alongside the soldiers. In the afternoon, he taught me the fundamentals of the spear. At night, I studied the military treatises he had annotated.

At first, I could not hold a horse stance for long. The soldiers had been ordered not to give me special treatment.

Some deliberately made trouble for me, choosing me as their opponent in sparring and beating me into a sorry state.

I understood what Uncle wanted me to learn: at the frontier, strength alone earned respect.

So I trained with everything I had. If I began behind everyone else, I would simply spend more time catching up.

Three years later, my body had grown strong and the spear in my hands ever fiercer.

During another sparring match, the boy who had pinned me to the ground every time was now the one pounding the dirt and begging for mercy.

The young man, Zheng Yue, had one arm twisted behind his back. He gritted his teeth against the pain, yet still managed to grin.

“The general was right. You’re hard on yourself and even harder on everyone else.”

I released him, too impatient to respond.

“Get up. We’re inspecting the defenses with the general.”

Uncle took us to survey the northwestern border. He said it was deep winter and the river had frozen over. The Qiangrong forces would be too busy surviving to attack.

Then I abruptly remembered that the court had received a battle report around this same time in our previous life.

Temperatures had plunged across the northwest, coating the river in thick ice.

Under cover of night, the enemy had crossed over the ice and launched a surprise attack. Our side suffered devastating losses.

“Uncle! They have neither food nor warm clothing. They’ll have no choice but to raid us. If the ice grows thick enough, might they cross the river at night and take us by surprise?”

His expression changed at once.

“Go check the thickness of the ice!”

Just as I had said, it was already thick enough to bear horses.

Uncle deployed the troops at once. That very night, we caught the enemy ambush force in our trap. It was my first battle, and I threw myself into the fighting with fierce exhilaration.

We won a resounding victory.

Father was overjoyed. With the New Year approaching, he summoned Uncle back to the capital to receive his reward.

In our previous life, Fang Changning had made her first return to the capital at roughly the same time after leaving it.

I found myself curious. In this life, was she enjoying the silks and delicacies she had coveted in the palace?