The soldiers had mostly seen Zhao Hanzhang before and felt both close to and respectful of her. Some younger and more lively ones even wanted to invite her to dance together.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and declined, letting them play by themselves.

She chose a soldier of middling age and asked, “After finishing the Yellow River repairs and returning to camp, do you still want to fight?”

The soldier was straightforward and without overthinking, immediately followed his heart and shook his head, “No, I want to return to camp to farm garrison fields.”

He liked farming.

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and asked, “And after farming?”

The soldier lowered his head and smiled sheepishly without making a sound.

A comrade beside him spoke for him, “Grand General, he wants to marry a wife.”

Zhao Hanzhang laughed heartily, “Marrying a wife is good! When the time comes, get a few more mu of land, have two or three children, and this life will be complete.”

The soldier quickly said, “This lowly one just idly dreams with them when there’s nothing to do, but doesn’t dare actually realize it. In the military, the youngest retirement age is thirty-five. I don’t know if I can live that long.”

Thirty-five years old—the current average lifespan wasn’t even forty. Earlier when she asked the Imperial Medical Bureau, they reported that according to current statistics, the national average lifespan was thirty-seven, so thirty-nine and above counted as longevity.

This average lifespan—constant warfare and natural disasters were the main causes.

As long as large-scale warfare could be prevented and timely disaster relief provided during calamities, preventing the kind of man-made disasters that occurred during the drought and locust plague of the year before last that caused such loss of life, the average lifespan could greatly increase.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at the soldier’s dark, thin face and said earnestly, “You definitely can.”

She turned to look at the other soldiers and asked, “What about all of you?”

They also expressed similar wishes.

No one wanted to fight, except for generals eager to establish merit.

The soldiers’ smallest wish was to farm garrison fields without fighting; their medium wish was to receive military pay and rations on time, eat their fill, and not go hungry; their biggest wish was to retire, return home to marry a wife, and have two children.

In the past two years, Zhao Hanzhang had gradually released veteran soldiers. Thirty-five years old was a threshold.

The minimum retirement age limit was thirty-five, so a group of seventeen or eighteen-year-old soldiers were already looking forward to seventeen or eighteen years later when they’d turn thirty-five, hoping it would come quickly.

Zhao Hanzhang led Colonel Chen in a circuit, asking soldiers around several bonfires. When she had collected enough opinions, she brought Colonel Chen back.

Colonel Chen remained silent, still somewhat defiant in his eyes. Which soldier liked fighting?

This question shouldn’t be asked of soldiers but of generals and court officials instead.

Did they need to ask soldiers whether they were willing to fight every time they went to battle?

Naturally, whatever orders the general gave, the soldiers would execute.

Zhao Hanzhang scanned his face and said, “Throughout history, famous generals have loved their soldiers like sons. If you want to achieve something on the battlefield, you must learn to think what the soldiers think.”

“Some wars must be fought, some wars need not be fought. If you want soldiers to risk their lives in battle, you must tell them the reason it must be fought.” Zhao Hanzhang stared into his eyes. “Is it for the country, for the people, for the ruler, or just for your military merit?”

Colonel Chen’s expression changed as he pondered in silence.

Zhao Hanzhang withdrew her gaze. “First focus on repairing the river. If you can lead them to properly repair the Yellow River, that also counts as a merit. When that time comes, if you still want to go to the battlefield, I will fulfill your wish.”

Her eyes looked into the distance, gazing at the stars in the northwest, and she said softly, “Our national territory hasn’t been completely recovered yet, has it?”

Upon hearing this, Colonel Chen’s blood boiled, and he was about to shout “Yes!” when he suddenly realized something and lowered his voice to respond, “Yes!”

Zhao Hanzhang returned to the bonfire where Fu Tinghan had roasted a lamb leg for her. “Try this.”

Zhao Hanzhang ate a bit then let everyone else have it, standing up and saying, “It’s getting late. We’ll go rest first.”

She had been working for a full day and night after all. Only relying on being young, from last night until now, she had slept a total of just two hours, and tomorrow she still had to rush back overnight.

Fu Tinghan returned to the tent with her but didn’t immediately rest. Instead, he took out the draft from his pocket to look at.

Zhao Hanzhang yawned and said, “Today was too tiring. Let’s sleep first. Tomorrow after I leave you can calculate. Just send me a telegram when you’re done.”

Fu Tinghan acknowledged but didn’t move. “You sleep first. I’ll look a bit longer.”

This “bit” lasted until the rooster crowed.

The chickens raised in the military camp kitchen called out.

Zhao Hanzhang became somewhat alert but hadn’t yet opened her eyes when she heard rustling sounds.

Groggily she thought it sounded like a pen moving across paper.

She suddenly opened her eyes, turned over to look, and indeed saw Fu Tinghan still writing and drawing under the lamplight.

Zhao Hanzhang sighed, about to get up, when Fu Tinghan suddenly stiffened completely, then put down his pen and stared at the draft paper in silence.

Zhao Hanzhang grabbed her clothes and got up to walk over. Only then did Fu Tinghan hear the sound and turn to look.

With one look at his expression, Zhao Hanzhang understood. “You calculated it?”

“Mm.” Fu Tinghan handed her the draft paper to see. “If the data Guo Pu observed is correct, then it will be the first day of the second month.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at the draft paper and asked, “You didn’t miscalculate?”

Fu Tinghan shook his head. “I didn’t.”

He emphasized, “The premise is that the observed data is correct.”

Zhao Hanzhang examined everything one by one, then blew on the draft paper to dry it and carefully placed it in an envelope. “Since you’ve calculated the formula, I’ll give this to Guo Pu when I return and have him continue observing and recalculate.”

But she believed in him, so at this moment she couldn’t help but let out a long breath, her whole body relaxing considerably. “This is good news.”

Natural disasters would always come, but when they arrived at a better time, that was good news.

Heaven truly hadn’t abandoned her and hadn’t made things more difficult for her.

Zhao Hanzhang pulled him up. “It’s almost dawn. Hurry and sleep for a bit.”

Fu Tinghan nodded in agreement. As soon as his head touched the pillow, he fell asleep.

Zhao Hanzhang, however, couldn’t fall back asleep. After lying down for a while, she simply got up and sat in the position where Fu Tinghan had just been, beginning to write a disaster relief plan.

Actually, when she realized there would be heavy rainstorms this spring, she had already begun preparations. But now with the addition of a solar eclipse, those preparations weren’t sufficient—she needed to add several more items.

Zhao Hanzhang wrote until daybreak. She sealed the finished document in the envelope, then twisted her neck, changed into her clothes, took up her sword, and went out for morning practice.

When Fu Chang and his two sons came out, Zhao Hanzhang was already on her second round, each move combining hardness and softness, like a dragon at play.

Seeing the three of them, Zhao Hanzhang gradually slowed her movements. She glanced at the spirited Fu Chang, then at the respectfully standing Fu Yong, and finally at Fu Hong, who had been sleepy-eyed just a moment ago but was now staring at her wide-eyed with admiration. She couldn’t help but smile and ask, “Did Second Uncle and my two younger brothers sleep well last night?”

Fu Chang stroked his beard and smiled, “Well!”

Fu Hong spoke simultaneously, “Not well!”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at Fu Hong and smiled, “I can see Third Brother is tired. Why not return to camp? I’m leaving this afternoon anyway. You really don’t need to rush about with me.”

Fu Chang smacked Fu Hong on the head. “What’s there to be tired about? He has endless energy every day. Grand General, if you have any tasks, feel free to assign them to him. If there’s nothing, just let him follow along and observe. If he can learn even two parts of what you and his elder brother can do, this lifetime will be secure.”

Seeing his insistence, Zhao Hanzhang stopped suggesting they return to camp first.