Chapter 2002: Upset Downward

The deputy officer immediately said to them: "The county magistrate wants to inspect the feeding port."

The two soldiers fiddled a few times at the beast's lower jaw, and the beast's mouth opened, gaping upward.

Everyone could see that inside, the xuan crystals flashed with multicolored light, ranging from pale blue to deep green, then to deep yellow.

Huang Chengqi reached in, grabbed two xuan crystals, and held them in his palm to examine.

He had never done this before, but of course the deputy officer would not stop him.

No one noticed that when Huang Chengqi flipped his wrist and tossed the xuan crystals back into the beast's mouth, he also slipped in a small crystal fragment.

It was also medium green, transparent, and no different from the other xuan crystals. Added to the beast's mouth blocking the view, no one noticed its presence.

Huang Chengqi immediately said: "Close it."

The two soldiers closed the beast's head, bowed to him, and the deputy officer then led the two men to continue inspecting the city gate.

After checking two more places, the deputy officer felt that today Magistrate Huang had spoken unusually little.

At this moment, Huang Chengqi pressed his abdomen, frowned, and said: "Let's go down first."

Seeing his expression of urgent need, the deputy officer dared not delay and led the two men down the gate tower.

"That's enough, no need to see us off."

Not long after they left, there was a sudden commotion above the city wall.

The deputy officer looked up and happened to see a Hao County soldier on the battlements arguing passionately with his comrade.

This person seemed somewhat familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

After walking a few hundred steps, the deputy officer suddenly had a flash of insight: damn, it seemed he had seen this guy on the battlefield.

It seemed like he was from the enemy camp!

Could he have mistaken him? With a gray helmet on and grime smeared on the face, people all look alike.

After thinking it over, the deputy officer was still uneasy, so he turned his steps and went to find Tu Shanfang.

He woke Tu Shanfang and told him of his suspicion.

Upon hearing this, Tu Shanfang jumped up: "Quick, to the city gate!"

If the deputy officer was not mistaken, this enemy disguised as a Hao County soldier was causing a ruckus on the battlements—what did he intend to do?

Obviously, to draw the attention of the garrison soldiers away.

The clamor on the battlements drew the crowd below to stop and look up. Coincidentally, a squad of soldiers passed by, unable to hear clearly from afar, and even moved closer to the Wengcheng gate.

This movement was not unusual, as there were always many people before the city gate, and this squad was not from Hao County, so the city garrison paid no attention.

The distance between the two sides quickly shortened to eight feet, when two men in the squad suddenly launched an attack, raising their hands to unleash a burst of green smoke.

Four garrison soldiers were caught off guard, enveloped by the green smoke—unable to see, and with unbearable pain on their faces, as if splashed with boiling water.

They cried out, bending over to cover their faces, while that squad of soldiers leapt forward in a single stride, hand rising and blade falling!

Afterwards, they charged into the Wengcheng, rushing toward the main city gate.

Miancheng originally had only one city gate, but to defend against Guo Bai's attack, a Wengcheng was later built behind it, and the gate of the Wengcheng was made very small for defensive purposes. Thus, here there are double gates in front and back; entering the Wengcheng still requires seizing control of the main city gate.

The Mian soldiers guarding the main city gate were greatly startled, seized their spears, and charged forward to stab, trying to drive the intruders out of the Wengcheng's small gate.

But who knew—several swooshing sounds came from above the city gate, and more than a dozen feathered arrows shot down!

Six city gate soldiers, three were shot down.

The three who survived immediately hid in the city gate passage, taking refuge in the visual blind spot above. But this way, they could no longer block the Wengcheng.

Everyone saw that the archers on the gate tower were actually Hao County soldiers.

"Hao County people are rebelling!"

"Hao County has mutinied!"

Shouts rose and fell, and both above and below the city, chaos erupted instantly.

Upon hearing these shouts, Tu Shanfang's face changed, and he suddenly grabbed a subordinate: "Damn, hurry and go check on Magistrate Huang!"

If the Hao County soldiers had rebelled, then the Hao County magistrate who had brought them into the city three days ago...

The subordinate responded, about to leave, but the deputy officer said: "Magistrate Huang and the Hao County magistrate Yu had just come to inspect the city defenses."

"Just now?" Tu Shanfang frowned tightly, his intuition telling him something was wrong: "How could he have come together with Magistrate Yu?"

Yu An was an official of Hao County, not Miancheng. Magistrate Huang was cautious and careful—how could he have brought him to inspect secret facilities?

"I don't know. You are resting, and Magistrate Huang said not to disturb you, so they inspected on their own."

"Then what?"

"They inspected the feeding port and the two granaries, then Magistrate Huang went downstairs, as if he had an urgent need."

Latest⊥release⊥at⊥⊥⊥top⊥point!

"Feeding port?" Tu Shanfang's heart skipped a beat, but he still ordered his subordinate to go find Magistrate Huang and Yu An, while he himself turned and ran toward the granaries: "Not good!"

The so-called "feeding port" was actually the inlet for adding xuan crystals to the city-beast. This was internal jargon of the county government, unknown to outsiders.

Then a messenger soldier came running to report: "Captain Tu, there is enemy activity outside the gate..."

Before his words finished, several booming sounds rang out, and the heavy main city gate shuddered three times.

"Mountain-Shattering Thunder." Tu Shanfang's face darkened completely.

Miancheng's city-beast was powerful, always tearing invading enemies to pieces, so Guo Bai adopted a new method: not letting troops or demon beasts directly charge up to collide, but instead building several siege wagons, with arched fronts on the wagon heads; once violently collided, the Mountain-Shattering Thunder hidden inside would detonate immediately.

As the name suggests, this is an explosive used to split mountains and shatter stones; Guo's army had further purified it, increasing its power.

Miancheng's city-beast, even just one head, had its eyes shattered by it.

Although the city's formation was sturdy, after being hit by dozens of consecutive explosions, how long could it hold?

Magistrate Huang had just brought Yu An to inspect the feeding port, and then Guo Bai suddenly launched an attack—was this too much of a coincidence?

Outside the city, roars shook the heavens as the enemy army surged out of the darkness, covering mountains and fields.

But now the city gate was a scene of melee: Mian soldiers wanted to shoot arrows downward to stop the enemy from approaching, while Hao County soldiers lunged forward to hack, their ferocity extreme.

Actually, they were no longer Hao County soldiers, but troops disguised as Guo Bai Yu's army.

Tushan blew the insect whistle, and the unique horn of the Black Armored Army echoed throughout the city.

This urgent triple whistle blast meant only one thing:

Assemble, enemy attack!

Because of frequent battles, the city garrison was stationed near the gate, and upon hearing the signal, they rushed out in droves.

The city wall passage trembled slightly, and the soldiers knew the guardian beast had been deployed.

However, after the guardian beast had just bitten two approaching monsters to death, white frost suddenly condensed on the wall.

The freezing speed was astonishing—within a dozen breaths, the outer city wall surface was covered with a thick layer of solid ice, even freezing the guardian beast in place!

They remained in their original poses, but were frozen solid on the wall, utterly motionless.

Seeing this, the defenders on the wall all cried out in dismay.

In this direction, Tushan ran to the supply depot and reached out to turn the mechanism. The beast's mouth, which should have been wide open, was now clamped shut tighter than a clamshell.

He pulled hard twice, but it wouldn't budge, only then realizing the beast's mouth was frozen shut—it had become a massive ice lump.

Clearly, the feeding port had been tampered with; once the guardian beast launched an attack and began consuming spirit crystals, its movement would be restricted.

Seizing the opportunity, three fire oxen arrived outside the gate and slammed into the city gate with fierce force!

Their size was even greater than that of their companions previously slain by the guardian beast, their muscles bulging all over.