Journey to the West: The roadblock!

Chapter 124 Encountering the Blackwater River (Part 10)
Meanwhile, the construction of the Blackwater River Bridge was in full swing.

Everyone performed their duties and did their best to play their part in this project.

During this time, many people inevitably came to watch.

Many people from other places even travel by carriage specifically to come here, hoping to catch a glimpse of the immortals.

After all, most people have heard of the Dragon King, but have never actually seen what the Dragon King looks like.

Ao Tu does not object to people visiting.

And so, the bridge was built day by day, and the bridge section had grown more than halfway.

Some scholars recorded this story in writing, using the most eloquent language to praise its merits.

Artists created illustrations of dragons, bridges, tigers and wolves, goddesses, giant turtles, holy monks, monkeys and pigs, among other things, for posterity.

Storytellers in teahouses and taverns fabricated and recounted this miraculous tale.

Some opera troupes are even planning to adapt this into plays.

Of course, everything in the world has its good and bad aspects, and its yang and yin aspects.

While many people were praising and admiring this miracle, spies were also leaking information about the bridge.

The Kingdom of Fadi, located upstream of the Blackwater River, learned of the news.

The Kingdom of Fadi spans over 500 li from east to west and over 400 li from north to south. Its land is barren and hilly, with few flowers and fruits, but abundant beans and wheat. The people are violent and unruly, and their customs are fierce. The capital city has a circumference of ten li and over thirty monasteries with more than two thousand monks.

-

Summer heat is gradually approaching.

In the forest, a group of migrant workers, shirtless, wielded sharp axes.

Sweat streamed down his forehead like water.

Gao Lin could not escape the scorching heat, and coupled with the long hours of high-intensity work, swinging axes, sawing, loading trucks, none of the tasks were easy.

A rather thin migrant worker was swinging a sharp axe when he suddenly swayed, feeling dizzy and with ringing in his ears. He lost his grip on the axe and fell backward to the ground.

Seeing this, people hurriedly said:
"Quickly, move him to a shady spot and give him some water to drink."

Meanwhile, on the other side, the migrant workers responsible for digging the soil were no less busy than those cutting down trees.

Some of the thin migrant workers also collapsed from exhaustion.

Fortunately, the rescue was timely, and no one on either side died.

At dinner, the two tiger cubs and the two wolf cubs reported their respective situations to Ao Tu.

Recently, more and more people are fainting from exhaustion and suffering from heatstroke.

Ao Tu invited everyone to discuss the matter.

Ao Tu said, "Recently, more and more people have been suffering from heatstroke and fainting. I don't know why."

Pigsy said, "Is that even a question? It's the Great Heat these days, and the weather is so hot that even I, Old Pig, sweat while sitting down, let alone those mortals who are doing heavy work."

Tang Sanzang said, "That's right, the weather has indeed been too hot lately."

Ao Tu nodded and said, "In that case, I plan to suspend work for a few days and resume work after the summer heat has passed. What do you all think?"

Tang Sanzang said, "That's fine too."

The imperial envoy said, "Holy Monk, Dragon God, there is no need to stop the work. The laborers' heatstroke and fainting are not entirely caused by the heat."

Ao Tu asked, "Why is that?"

The imperial envoy said, "Although the weather is hot, those laborers are all from humble backgrounds and are used to hard labor. They are good at enduring, so this heat is nothing to them. They can just bear it."

Their heatstroke and fainting were mostly due to exhaustion. "Your Majesty, I too have overseen construction projects; there are some things I'm hesitant to say, please forgive me."

Ao Tu said, "Speak freely."

The imperial envoy said, "The food prepared by the goddess is truly a top-quality delicacy, but the laborers are not fortunate enough to enjoy it. Their food does not need to be elaborately seasoned; just a little more coarse salt will suffice."

Ao Tu said, "Coarse salt..." The imperial envoy said, "That's right, cheap coarse salt. Eating it will give you more strength, and with more strength, you can endure the hot weather. And if you supplement it with..."

Ao Tu asked, "What should we use to assist it?"

The imperial envoy said, "Flogging. Flogging can cure this ailment, achieving twice the result with half the effort."

Tang Sanzang couldn't help but say, "Your Excellency, how can you treat the people like this? Isn't this treating them like cattle and livestock?"

The imperial envoy said, "Holy Monk, please don't be angry. I know you have a compassionate heart and cherish these people. But I was only thinking of the bigger picture, and what I said was the truth."

"I have overseen construction projects before, and when funds and grain were insufficient, if this method wasn't used, the construction schedule would be delayed, and how could lives be saved? Of course, now that the Dragon God is in charge, surely there will be a more appropriate solution."

Ao Tu said, "Well, in that case, the laborers' heatstroke and fainting were caused by physical exhaustion. Since that's the case, there's no need to buy any coarse salt. Great Sage, you're fast on your feet. I have a letter for you to deliver to my uncle, the Dragon King of the West Sea, Ao Run, and ask him to borrow a thousand catties of snow salt."

Wukong laughed and said, "You little dragon, you're actually ordering me around."

Tang Sanzang said, "Wukong, for the sake of the people, you should make this trip."

Wukong said, "Master, don't worry, it's not that I don't want to go, I'm just going to talk to him. This little dragon, even his older brother doesn't dare to order me around!"

Ao Tu glanced at Wukong but said nothing. He continued, "Just eating salt isn't enough. I'll think of some other ways."

Wukong quickly went to the Western Sea and borrowed the salt.

The next morning, Mingniang started cooking.

The rules stipulated that the migrant workers would have two meals a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, consisting of grains and vegetables. In addition, some dry rations would be distributed at noon for them to eat while working.

But today is different from usual.

The migrant workers had just woken up and were getting ready to come out for dinner.

However, at this moment, in full view of everyone, Ao Tu used his magic to stir up the river water and grab a large number of fat fish from the Blackwater River.

Ao Tu handed the fish to Ming Niang and instructed her to stew them into fish soup for everyone to eat.

The migrant workers were terrified at the sight. They all knelt down and said:

"Grandpa Dragon King, this fish is poisonous! You can't eat it!"

Upon hearing this, Ao Tu laughed and said, "Do not be afraid, I have divine power and can use magic to cure the poison."

As he spoke, Ao Tu waved his hand, unleashing a sky full of golden magical power.

When the magic power fell on people, everyone felt warm all over; when the magic power fell on fish, streams of black poisonous gas emerged from the fish.

Ao Tu said, "The poison has been neutralized, you can eat it without worry."

Upon hearing this, everyone bowed repeatedly, deeply grateful.

In reality, there was no poisonous gas; it was just a smokescreen used by Ao Tu.

The migrant workers, unaware of the true situation, genuinely believed that the Dragon King had used magic to remove the poison. So, once the fish was cooked, they devoured it greedily.

After everyone ate the fish, drank the fish soup, and ate grains and vegetables, they all felt full of energy and were not as tired as before when they worked.

And so, Ao Tu would use his magic to catch fish every day, then cleanse them of toxins before feeding them to everyone.

Everyone quickly got used to it.

With his fiery eyes, Wukong naturally noticed something was wrong.

He came over to ask Ao Tu what the reason was.

Ao Tu then told Wukong about the poison in the Blackwater River and asked Wukong not to spread it for the time being.

More than half a month has passed.

On this day, Ao Tu caught fish as usual, but instead of using magic to remove the poison, he handed them directly to Ming Niang, who prepared them for everyone to eat.

Everyone was so used to the Dragon King cleaning out toxins every day that no one noticed this.

(End of this chapter)