Journey to the West: Man in heaven, working nine to five

#2013 - Another crisis

Chu Hao's words made his meaning very clear. If Fengxian County remained under the oppression and control of Tianzhu Kingdom, it would be difficult to escape the West's control.

"What Immortal Chu Hao said is indeed reasonable."

Even Tang Seng agreed with Chu Hao's attitude. Even if they intervened, they could only save them temporarily, but not for a lifetime.

Unless the people of Fengxian County realized this and took practical action, they could completely break free from the control of the West.

"Alas, my people of Fengxian County are about to suffer another disaster."

Prefect Shangguan could only sigh, feeling helpless about the situation.

Fengxian County had already suffered three years of drought, making survival difficult and the economy depressed. The trouble caused by the West was even more devastating.

Although the weather was now favorable, it was impossible to change the situation in a short period. The people of Fengxian County still faced hardship.

Under these circumstances, the Horse-faced Envoy arrived and demanded that the people rebuild the temple, which would be a drain on resources and manpower.

Rebuilding the temple would require a large amount of labor, not to mention a large amount of wood and bricks. Fengxian County had suffered three years of drought, and even the grass and trees had withered.

"Envoy, where can we obtain the bricks and wood needed to rebuild the temple?"

His subordinates were also helpless about this. Within the entire Fengxian County, resources were scarce, and there was nowhere to find materials to rebuild the temple.

"This…"

The Horse-faced Envoy couldn't think of a solution for a moment.

However, there were two close guards by the Horse-faced Envoy's side, named Fei Zhong and You Hun. These two guys were downright scheming villains, and their hearts were even more vicious.

"Envoy, I have an idea. Since there is a lack of materials for rebuilding the temple, we can demolish the houses of the people to obtain them."

Fei Zhong made a suggestion to the Horse-faced Envoy.

"This is a good idea. Immediately issue my order to demolish the houses of the people to provide materials for rebuilding the temple."

"This is the only place where our family can live."

"Are you trying to kill us?"

The people pleaded with the soldiers who were carrying out the orders, but those soldiers were just following orders, and even if they sympathized with them, there was nothing they could do.

As houses were demolished one after another, the people's eyes were filled with intense hatred.

The people of Fengxian County had already suffered successive disasters. Now, the arrival of this Horse-faced Envoy meant that even the houses they lived in were going to be destroyed.

"You can't demolish it! If you want to demolish it, you'll have to step over my dead body."

Finally, someone couldn't suppress the anger in their heart and stood in front of their house, wanting to protect their home with their seven-foot body.

But a weak commoner was as insignificant as an ant in the eyes of the soldiers. His behavior was as ridiculous as a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

"The Envoy has ordered that anyone who dares to disobey will be killed without exception."

"I'll fight you!"

Those soldiers did not show mercy because this commoner was protecting his home. Under the swords and spears, the commoner's body fell down in a bloody mess.

At the temple reconstruction site, many strong young people were captured to work as coolies. In order to speed up the progress, the Envoy made them work tirelessly for more than ten hours a day.

Even livestock would have problems if they were used like this. In just a few days, some people, because they were not fed enough and overworked, began to fall down constantly.

The Envoy showed no sympathy for these people, and directly threw them aside, leaving them to fend for themselves.

Watching people die constantly, and even the corpses emitted a stench, some people finally reached their limit.

"This is clearly forcing us to our deaths."

"Anyway, it's a dead end, we might as well fight them."

"What's the use of building this temple? To let the West continue to harm us?"

Under the high-pressure rule of the Horse-faced Envoy, the people were finally forced to the point where they had no choice but to resist.

"Fight them! At worst, we'll just die."

At the demolition and temple reconstruction sites, the gathered people began to clash with the supervising soldiers.

Once this momentum started, it spread like wildfire, and more and more people joined the resistance.

With the increasing number of people resisting, the supervising soldiers could no longer cope with the situation. Some of the fierce supervising soldiers were even surrounded and beaten to death by the people.

This matter was immediately reported to the Horse-faced Envoy.

"Report, Envoy, something bad has happened! The people of Fengxian County are resisting the soldiers, and the situation is already out of control."

Hearing this news, the Horse-faced Envoy also felt somewhat shocked. He did not expect that the people of Fengxian County would dare to resist him, an envoy of the imperial court.

However, he was, after all, an envoy sent by the King of Tianzhu, with the royal family and the imperial court as his backing, and he held great power in the region. A few mere commoners were nothing in his eyes.

"These lowly people dare to disobey the imperial court. Immediately mobilize the army to encircle and suppress them. Anyone who dares to resist will be regarded as a rebel and killed without exception."

The Horse-faced Envoy immediately ordered the mobilization of a large army to encircle and suppress the resisting people.

Within Fengxian County, the number of people joining the resistance reached tens of thousands in just one day, forming a huge force.

And the military strength within Fengxian County added up to only a few thousand people, so the resistance force had a huge advantage in numbers.

However, the people were, after all, just people. They did not have decent weapons in their hands, and most of them were holding sticks and farm tools.

This was essentially different from the well-equipped soldiers.

It could be said that one side had a quantitative advantage, while the other side had a qualitative advantage. Several thousand soldiers and tens of thousands of people had begun to confront each other within Fengxian County.

A great battle was on the verge of breaking out, and if the people and the soldiers fought each other, the result was predictable.

No matter which side won, it would be a disastrous scene of corpses all over the ground and rivers of blood, which was even more bloody and violent than the previous natural disasters.

"Stop it!"

Just as the two sides were about to clash, someone suddenly shouted loudly.