To live on in this turbulent world, to take revenge for her family, to seek justice for her entire village of a hundred and eighteen people who had their lives cut short, Lin Wanyue took the name of her younger twin brother Lin Feixing to enlist in the military, vowing to kill every single Hun under the sky. The Empress has passed into heaven, leaving the sixteen year old Eldest Princess, Xian and eight year old Crown Prince to depend on each other for survival. The other Seigniors who were older than the Crown Prince look upon the royal seat with ravenous eyes the position of these two siblings are in a precarious situation.
The story of a crossdressing General and a strategic all-knowing Eldest Princess enfolds; with betrayal, violence, thrilling romance, and acceptance.
Female General and Eldest Princess (often abbreviated as FGEP by fans) is a Girl's Love Historical Fiction drama set in Medieval China, albeit with heavy embellishments and an entirely made up cast of characters, written by a female author only known by their internet name; "Please Don’t Laugh". The first chapter was originally published in 2017 on the online, Chinese web novel site, JJWXC. It proved to be extremely popular, regularly ending up on the top of the website's charts. It finished its run in 2018, just a year after the first chapter was posted. Eventually an author-approved English fan translation was released (it can be found here
), alongside the original Chinese version.
It has been adapted into a radio drama, as well as a Chinese Manhua (webcomic), both of which are still ongoing.
Female General and Eldest Princess contains examples of the following:
- Always Chaotic Evil: The Hun Tribes are viewed as little more than quasi-demonic hordes whose sole motivation is to Rape, Pillage, and Burn anything they come across. Lin Wanyue's opinion of them is so low she constantly fantasises about killing every single Hun man and making every Hun woman infertile. In the early portions of the story the Huns are portrayed as little more then killers and reavers, but it's gradually shown they are simply being forced to pillage resources to feed themselves, have a semblance of culture that's equal, if simpler, to that of the Chinese, good-natured Huns begin showing up and eventually they become a friendly ally to the Emperor after a non-aggression pact is signed.
- Battle Couple:
- Shiyi and Qingyan are master assassins who tear through a detachment of twenty elite soldiers without sweating.
- Li Zhen and Li Xuan are considered Warrior Princes of the highest degree; being elite warriors, master tacticians, and competent plotters. The former of which even impresses Wanyue, who despises politicians, the first time they meet.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: So much so the author often prefaces chapters stating the cultural notions shown and depicted were not her personal beliefs. As described in Gayngst, homosexual attraction is described by the characters as "unnatural" and "filthy", intermarrying between social classes is heavily frowned upon, women are trapped in a society that considers them inherently inferior as well as property of their husbands or fathers, which female characters readily agree with, and thoughts of genocide are encouraged and praised.
- Gayngst: Done quite realistically; the time period in which the story is set, the Tang Dynasty, was when the cultural perception of homosexuality in China, which was originally quite neutral, and even somewhat accepted in some parts, became very bad, and widespread persecution started. As such homosexuality is frequently decried as being "unnatural and against nature". That being said; each same-sex couple in the story handles it differently.
- Wanyue is initially horrified about her, in her own words "blasphemous, unclean" attraction to Xian, but she starts to gradual accept and then even embrace it. Xian, on the other hand, has been aware of her attraction towards the same sex since she was a child, and is far more adjusted and accepting of it. She's way more concerned with the fact that Wanyue's a commoner, and actually becomes relieved when she discovers Wanyue is another woman.
- Averted with Shiyi and Qingyan. While it takes a long time for their mutual attraction to become apparent, they have no problem with accepting their love for the other, and become a loving couple.
- In the middle is Li Zhen and Li Xuan. Li Zhen is perfectly okay with it; he's even ecstatic when he discovers his younger half-sister is gay just like him. However, Li Xuan's foul-temper is implied to be partially due to the stress it causes him, though he's ultimately able to accept it.
- Literary Allusion Title: Nearly a half of the chapter titles are lines from traditional Chinese poetry or folk songs.
- Master Archer: Wangyue first rises to prominence when she successfully masters a two-stone bow — something that only a few soldiers in the entire Northern Army are strong enough to accomplish. After getting promoted to commander of the archery regiment, she quickly qualifies to three-stone bows (something that only half a dozen people in the entire empire can do), as well as mastering horseback archery. While 'Feixing' is no slouch in any form of combat, her archery is what really puts her on the map — as well as facilitating her life-changing meeting with Princess Li Xian, who first develops interest in 'Feixing' after watching her fire a hundred arrows into the practice target.
- Matchmaker Failure: After Lin Wangyue gains a noble title, her house becomes besieged by professional matchmakers who want to set up "General Feixing" with a good wife. When she rejects them outright and instructs her servants to ignore them, the matchmaker guild takes offense and starts spreading unsavory rumors about her, which are only cleared when Wangyue lets slip that her heart already belongs to an Imperial Princess.
- Shown Their Work: Twice in the story, Wanyue has her wounds stitched shut with a strand of Li Xian's long silky hair, leaving neat "centipede-like" scars. One would think that such hair suturing is pure wishful fiction, a form of Intimate Healing reliant on the Rule of Cute, but it is actually a real surgical procedure (the report contains some rather graphic injury photos, so be warned) used by modern doctors. The main differences are that in real life, the patient's own ("autologous") hair is typically used because it avoids inflammationnote ; it is usually applied to facial wounds, specifically because it prevents visible scarring; and it is done with much smaller surgical needles than would be available in a Tang Dynasty military camp.
