You put me in charge of the prison and turned all the female prisoners into female military goddesse

Before the gong had even finished ringing, fifteen people from the opposite side had already charged forward.

The three veterans at the front of the line slumped their shoulders and pushed forward by rubbing their feet against the ground.

The people behind them followed closely behind, forming a human wall that was low and steady, leaving white marks on the dusty training ground from the soles of their boots.

"kill!"

Ye Qingqing was the first to go forward.

She didn't slow down, and her shoulder slammed into the opposite wall of people, colliding head-on with the veteran in the first row.

The man lost his footing and stumbled backward half a step; his companion quickly reached out to support him.

In that half-step gap, Nirumedo had already darted out beside Ye Qingqing's left, and with a flick of her fist, punched the old soldier twice in the ribs, as fast as pounding garlic.

The veteran groaned, his legs buckled, and he knelt down on one knee.

"Beautiful!" Ji Tangtang shouted from behind, then rushed out first.

Mu Jiangli didn't rush in; instead, she crouched down and circled around the edge of the field, her shoes landing silently on the sidelines.

Fang Shengtian stood beside the flagpole watching her circle around, his brow twitching slightly.

Chaos has broken out in the middle of the field:

Ye Qingqing and Nilumeduo were at the forefront and were entangled by four people. Liu Zhezhi and Qin Liniang cut in from both sides, and one of them tripped an old soldier with a sweeping kick.

The other one had just turned around when Qin Liniang grabbed his arm from behind.

Wen Lanxiang remained crouched at the back of the crowd, her eyes darting back and forth, constantly calling out:

"Ye Qingqing, take two steps to the left, don't get stuck there. Mu Jiangli, have you arrived yet?"

Mu Jiangli squatted down under the opposite stands and made a gesture towards Wen Lanxiang.

On the stands, Qian Si held a teacup, but his eyes followed Mu Jiangli's route around the entire area.

A clerk next to him lowered his head as if to say something, but Qian Si put the teacup back, tapped his fingers twice on his knee, and the clerk swallowed his words.

On the other side of the field, Ji Tangtang faced off against a veteran of the Flying Cavalry Battalion.

The man was a head taller than her, and his arms were thicker than her thighs. He could lift her up with a single reach.

Ji Tangtang neither dodged nor retreated, but instead kicked the other man in the side of the knee.

The man's center of gravity shifted. She then kicked him in the hip with her second foot, using the momentum to bounce to the side. When she landed, she didn't stand firmly, and half of her shoulder scraped the ground.

"Ouch." Mu Jiangli popped out from behind and grabbed her by the back of her collar. "If you can't beat them, then don't fight. Go and grab the flag."

"Who says we can't beat him?" Ji Tangtang got up, brushed the dirt off his shoulders, and said, "I'm going to wear him down."

"Are you exhausting him, or is he exhausting you?"

Ji Tangtang didn't have time to retort; her eyes were fixed on the direction of the flagpole.

Only two veterans remained guarding the flag; the rest were tied up in the middle of the field by Ye Qingqing and her group.

The two veterans stood firmly, one on each side protecting the flagpole, clearly ready to fight to the bitter end.

"Let Jiang Duyue do the work," Ji Tangtang shouted to Wen Lanxiang.

Wen Lanxiang turned around and glanced at the base of the wall.

Jiang Duyue squatted behind the low wall, the three pebbles in her hand already warm from being squeezed.

"Quick, Jiang Duyue!" Wen Lanxiang shouted.

"Know!"

Jiang Duyue stood up, listened for two seconds, and then raised her right hand.

The first pebble flew close to the ground and hit the ankle of the old soldier guarding the flag on the left. The man's leg went numb and his center of gravity shifted by half an inch.

The second one hit him right away, striking the outside of his knee, and he staggered to the side.

When the third pebble flew out, the veteran on the right instinctively turned his head to dodge it.

In that one dodge, Liu Zhezhi had already cut in from the side.

She didn't touch the two veterans, but instead scooped up the red flag with black border from the base by the outside of the flagpole, her movements as clean as picking fruit.

The gong rang as soon as the flag left the ground.

Fang Shengtian swung the small red flag down, and Sun Rendi immediately blew his whistle.

All movement stopped simultaneously, with several veterans still in their grappling positions.

Ye Qingqing still had someone's head between her elbows, and Nilumedo's fist remained suspended in mid-air.

Liu Zhezhi stood next to the flagpole, holding the flag. He paused for a second, looked down at the flag, and then looked up at Fang Shengtian.

"You win if you pull out the flag," Fang Shengtian nodded to her. "You've won."

The female prisoners were silent for a moment, then erupted in chaos.

Ji Tangtang was the first to jump up: "We won! We won! We won!"

Ye Qingqing released her arms, and the old soldier she had been holding sat down on the ground, panting heavily as he clutched his neck.

Nilmedo withdrew her fist, squatted down expressionlessly, patted the old soldier on the shoulder, and gave him a thumbs up.

Mu Jiangli emerged from under the stands, dusted off her knees, and said matter-of-factly, "I told you long ago, as long as I get into position, this game is in the bag."

"You've got the position you're supposed to be in," Ji Tangtang pointed at her, "but tell me what you did after you got there? You just squatted there and watched."

"Isn't it more valuable for you guys to fight than for me to fight? I'm just observing the battlefield."

"That's just you being lazy."

Wen Lanxiang walked over and interrupted them: "Stop arguing, the old soldier is still sitting on the ground, you should thank him first."

The female prisoners then turned around and hurriedly pulled the old Flying Cavalry soldier off the ground.

Those grown men weren't angry after they were pulled up.

Two of them patted Ye Qingqing on the shoulder and said, "You're strong enough." "Next time, be gentle and don't hit her ribs."

Fang Shengtian walked up to Lu Jing, rolled up the small red flag, and stuffed it into his sleeve: "Brother Lu, this is the first time I've seen this kind of fighting. There are people holding the front, people pulling on the flanks, and someone even goes around to the back to pull out the flag. Where did you come up with this idea?"

"Just some random thought," Lu Jing said. "Let's try it out, and if it doesn't work, we can change it."

Fang Shengtian laughed: "You call this not good enough? My fifteen veterans couldn't hold out for half an hour, and you've only lasted for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

"They weren't serious," Lu Jing gestured towards the veterans. "If they had really used weapons, we wouldn't have lasted this long. It's just an advantage to fight empty-handed."

Just as Fang Shengtian was about to reply, a sound rang out from the stands.

Qian Si stood up, placed the teacup lid on the table, patted off non-existent dust from his clothes, and slowly walked down from the stands with two clerks.

Instead of walking directly into the arena, he walked around to a spot three steps to the side of Lu Jing and stopped.

"Captain Lu," Qian Si cupped his hands in greeting, a smile on his face, "the drill was brilliantly executed; you truly have real skill."

Lu Jing was too lazy to speak, and simply cupped his hands in greeting.

"Being polite isn't my style," Qian Si said, his smile fading. He pointed to the female prisoners still frolicking in the middle of the room. "Let me be frank. Someone reported that your ordination certificates were problematic, and we were supposed to go through a formality to verify them."

He paused, then said unhurriedly, "But seeing your skills today, I've changed my mind. The ordination certificates aren't urgent. You can help Captain Fang train his troops first, and we'll talk again later."

After saying this, he cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, turned around, and left. The two clerks quickly followed, and the three of them stepped out of the side gate of the martial arts arena, their feet crunching on the pebbles.

Fang Shengtian stood to the side, his brows slightly furrowed: "What does he mean by that?"

"Let's leave it for now," Lu Jing said. "If he doesn't make a move, we'll pretend we didn't hear anything."

Fang Shengtian looked at him for two seconds, then didn't ask any more questions. He patted him on the shoulder and said, "Okay, then leave it for now. I'll add some dishes for you tonight. The winning team will get a reward."

"What reward?"

"I had two jars of Sanlejiang (a type of Chinese liquor) brought out from the warehouse!"

Fang Shengtian raised his chin at Ji Tangtang, "But can any of your girls drink?"

Lu Jing looked at the female prisoners who were still cheering and jumping for joy, and said;

"Yes, you can. Just bring two fewer jars."

"Hahaha, it's a deal!"

Fang Shengtian laughed loudly, turned around and left.

The female prisoners were still making a ruckus.

Ji Tangtang jumped and skipped, brushing the dirt off his clothes as he approached Lu Jing: "Lord Lu, are you really going to give us wine tonight?"

"Give."

Ji Tangtang's eyes lit up: "How much can you drink?"

"You're passed out from drinking, but training will proceed as scheduled tomorrow."

The light on Ji Tangtang's face dimmed slightly: "Then I'll drink less."

She turned to run back and continue making a scene, but Lu Jing reached out and grabbed her.

"Wait, I have a question for you. When you and Mu Jiangli were going around to the back, how many times did that guy surnamed Qian in the stands put his cup down?"

Ji Tangtang paused for a moment, then thought for a moment: "It's just once, why are you asking this?"

"It's okay," Lu Jing released her, "Go have fun."

As he walked toward the side courtyard, he reached into his robes and touched the rolls of silk, then remembered Qian Si's words, "Let's talk about it another time."

We'll talk about that later.

These four words sound amicable, but Lu Jing knew that such amicability often stemmed from the other party not yet having found a reason to take action.

He pushed open the gate to the side courtyard and went inside. The courtyard was quiet, and the mutton bone soup for dinner was still warming on the kitchen stove.

He sat on the porch, took the key out of his pocket, and turned it upside down in the last bit of daylight.

The patterns on the key handle flickered in the light.

He looked at it for a few seconds, then put the key back.