The Empress’ Livestream

“What are those dumb people doing?” Jiang Pengji turned to Xu Ke, who had
already gotten used to her direct manner.
The teenager looked at the sky for a rough guess of time. “Probably taking a rest on
the drill ground.”
They had their own drill ground next to the farms to facilitate training.
Qiguan Rang followed the two and saw the men laying or sitting on the ground. The
baskets of stones were placed in a corner. He could now tell each of them weighed
around thirty catties. Common people could not run with such a burden on their
back—not without having their shoulders injured.
“Stand up! Are you dying yet?” Jiang Pengji took a wooden spear from a stand on
one side.
To Qiguan Rang’s surprise, the men immediately crawled to stand up and queued up
orderly.
“Their compliance is exceptional!” he exclaimed, a little bewildered.
Xu Ke explained after a low cough, “Langjun once defeated them all on his own.”
Why else would they obey so readily?
“…” Qiguan Rang had never imagined that the short, thin boy could win all the strong
men and make them fearful of him afterwards.
“What is he doing now?” It was out of expectation that Jiang Pengji could also fight.
“Perhaps leading today’s training. After all, the soldiers haven’t been fully
accustomed to the practice.”
While Xu Ke had learned some kungfu before, the others had never received proper
training, and they lacked even the basic skills of using different weapons. Jiang
Pengji thus decided to instruct them once before she found a couch for them.
Qiguan Rang was quiet. Now he knew why Jiang Pengji wanted the military chief to
join her team.
The drill ground was not extensive, yet it could accommodate around a hundred
men. Since there were no more than twenty of them, they had abundant space for
training.
Jiang Pengji was demonstrating how to use a wooden spear. Although no one had
taught her, the instinct of a genetically enhanced soldier enabled her to acquire the
skills by herself and show the soldiers perfect examples.

“When your opponent blocks your spearhead, you turn your wrist like this to attack
more quickly. You see…” Without warning, her spear pushed forward to a man near
her, who instinctively blocked her spearhead with his weapon.
Immediately, her spear drew a smooth curve, slid along the man’s spear to the left
side of his chest, and pointed at his heart. The metal did not touch his skin and the
pain was almost negligible, yet the sharpness seemed to have passed through his
clothes. The soldier loosened his spear out of fear.
“This is the agility you need during an attack. For defense, the body of the spear can
bend to reduce the aggressive force. That’s why a spear can be used both for
aggression and defense.”
“So this is how you use a spear…” Jiang Pengji held her weapon, and raised her
voice at the goggling crowd. “What are you waiting for? Go find your wooden man
and practice!”
There were more than twenty wooden men in the venue, each the same size of a
real person. The packed straw fillings made it hard for weapons to penetrate.
“Tst!” Jiang Pengji watched them for a while, and then tossed the spear with her
fingers. The weapon darted at a wooden man and hit the middle of it, its long body
cutting through the standing equipment. The heavy sound shocked everyone, but the
spearhead remained unbroken.
Her strict manner and powerful demonstration changed the men’s attitude, and they
spared no efforts in hitting the wooden men according to what Jiang Pengji had
taught.
“That’s stomach! Don’t you know where the heart is?” She pulled out the still weapon
on a wooden man and raised a man’s arm with the spear body. “Show no mercy to
your enemy. They will have none for you!”
She continued to check their progress one by one and she corrected some of their
postures. “Your strength should come from your body, not your arm alone.
Otherwise, your attack will be too weak. Or, if it’s forceful enough, your arms will lose
strength soon.”
“I’m not asking you to practice for pretty postures. I just need you to learn how to kill
in one attack.” For this reason, she had the vital positions all marked on the wooden
men.
Abruptly, she turned to a soldier and hit his spear with hers. His weapon was cast to
a distant, leaving the man’s face pale and his shoulders shuddering.
“Pick it up and continue,” she ordered in a cold voice.
He ran to pick it up with his numbed hands.
He had held his spear with all his strength, but Jiang Pengji’s attack was like a
mountain crushing him. His fingers and palm barely had any feeling, and the spear
became as heavy as lead.

“Is this the Lanting I know?” Qiguan Rang’s eyes followed the movement of Jiang
Pengji. She was no longer the lazy, nonchalant langjun he saw as they chatted, but a
stern commander. “Now I’m beginning to understand why you need the military
chief.”
The effect of having a couch was significant.
“I guess Langjun simply doesn’t want to see them before they are trained up. Every
time he sees them, he becomes so annoyed.”
“…” This teen had better stop it before his honesty put him in danger.
Jiang Pengji hurled her spear precisely into the weapon stand and told the men,
“Lance corporals, it’s your responsibility to monitor their training. No one can rest
before they can perform what I just taught. You’re the first to be punished if any of
your team members disobey my instructions. Understand?”
Qiguan Rang praised, “No doubt Lanting will become a respectable military when he
grows up.”
Jiang Pengji happened to hear him as she returned, and she beamed. “Let’s hope
so.”
As the richest village in the region, every household led an enviable life. While their
less fortunate peers were craving for food, children there could remain carefree.
“Ouch!” A little boy was running with his friend when he bumped into a tall man.
“I’m sorry. Have I hurt you?” He heard a mature male voice ask with sincere concern.