In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone regained their energy and set off, radiating warmth, towards the deepest part of the Blackback Mountains.

Because the mountain path was difficult to walk, it took them a long time to walk until the sun went down and the sky became dark.

There were tiger droppings and footprints all along the way, but strangely, we didn't encounter a single tiger.

This gave Li Yuanchang the illusion that the tigers had migrated to other places because of their previous failure to find food.

It wasn't until nightfall that Li Yuanchang stomped down, and there was a cracking sound.

He froze, looked down, and saw that it was bone!

In the deepest part of such remote mountains and forests, where no one lives, bones were found.

He reached out and picked it up, examining it closely. His expression suddenly turned serious: "It's human bone!"

"Your Highness, there are some here too!"

"They're here too!"

As the guards used their knives to cut through the thorns and pluck away the dead leaves, more and more skeletons were revealed, a truly horrifying sight.

Some have been there for a long time, while others are new, with the flesh and blood on them not even completely rotten.

The guards were shocked, and a chill ran down their spines.

"How did these people get here?"

"Yeah, a tiger that eats a person couldn't possibly drag them that far, could it?"

"There's no village or shop in sight here."

Li Yuanchang carefully examined them and found that some were animal skeletons, but at least half were human bones.

"They might be hunters who went into the mountains to collect medicinal herbs or to hunt."

"Over time, it's accumulated to this extent."

"We're probably not far from the tiger's den!"

Upon hearing this, everyone tensed up and instinctively became alert to their surroundings.

Li Yuanchang looked up at the pitch-black night sky.

"Let's stay here."

"Yuan Tong, you take your men to set up the traps. I will take my men to check the situation ahead first."

He wouldn't be foolish enough to directly challenge a pack of tigers to a one-on-one fight; if dozens of them appeared, even two hundred people wouldn't be enough.

So his initial plan was to first find the tiger's den, and then use bait and traps to capture them all in one fell swoop.

Use your brains to outwit the tiger.

"yes!"

"Your Highness, please be careful."

"These beasts have very sensitive noses. You can use the blood and saliva of this bear on your body for camouflage," said Yuan Tong, an experienced hunter by trade.

Li Yuanchang took it, and then selected twenty people. He took the lead and directly smeared blood and saliva on them. It was very dirty and smelly, but he didn't even blink. There was no trace of the pampered life of a prince.

When Li Yuanchang led his men into the darkness and headed towards the mountain peak, hoping to gain a higher vantage point and a wider view...

Yuan Tong's group of over two hundred people began their operation, digging deep pits, setting up bamboo spikes, and raising a large amount of hemp ropes they had brought to the tree canopy.

The depression where the human bones are most concentrated is being gradually covered by a net.

The fourth quarter of the hour of You (5-7 PM).

Using the scent of the black bear as cover, Li Yuanchang and his men avoided many wild animals along the way, such as wolves, snakes, and even a leopard.

These things, which are almost impossible to see in later generations, seem to be everywhere in the deep mountains and forests of the Tang Dynasty.

He successfully reached a mountain peak with an excellent view, but it was also extremely steep, with loose rocks falling down along the way.

"call!!"

Li Yuanchang wiped away his sweat and exhaled a large breath of stale air.

The guards, lined up in a row, looked down at the vast mountains and valleys below. The interplay of the bright moon and darkness created an extremely beautiful landscape painting!

Ancient times were inferior to later generations in every way, yet they were also better than later generations in every way.

Li Yuanchang, feeling the cold wind, couldn't help but admire the scene for a while longer. If he were to take a picture at this moment, it might even win an award in later generations.

Just as he was lost in the scenery, a primal roar echoed through the mountains, quickly pulling him back to reality.

"It's a tiger!"

The group tensed, then dispersed and began searching downwards for directions.

But standing on the mountain peak and looking down at the surrounding mountains and ridges is no less impressive than viewing the mountains and the sea. Everything is blurry and small, and because it is night, you can hardly see anything.

Just then, another tiger's roar pierced through the forest.

Li Yuanchang's ears twitched slightly; this time he heard it clearly.

"Over here!"

He walked to the edge of the cliff and tried to look southwest.

He still couldn't see anything clearly, and he couldn't help but feel annoyed. He wished he had invented the telescope earlier in Liangzhou.

The Tang Dynasty did have glass; it wasn't difficult to make.

"Your Highness, the sound doesn't seem to be far away."

Li Yuanchang glanced down and saw that the mountains here were continuous and undulating, not the kind of cliffs and precipices.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go, let's climb over and take a look."

"yes!"

The guards clasped their hands in greeting. Having learned from their previous experiences, they were now bolder and took the initiative to go find the tiger.

And so they crossed one mountain after another. Although it wasn't as terrifying as a sheer cliff, the jagged rocks and uneven, rugged roads still caused many people to get cut and injured, including Li Yuanchang.

In a full 45 minutes, they had only walked about 700 or 800 meters in a straight line.

It was slow, but the tiger's roars were frequent and becoming clearer. Li Yuanchang knew that the direction was right, and now all that was missing was a specific location.

Around 3:45 PM.

The night grew darker and darker, shrouded in dark clouds.

Suddenly, one of the guards stopped and frantically gestured behind him.

Li Yuanchang stiffened, crouched down, and quickly followed, then crawled into the weeds on the mountainside.

"Your Highness, what are you looking at!" the guard exclaimed excitedly, his voice low.

Looking over, Li Yuanchang saw about four tigers lingering about fifty or sixty meters away, with no prey at their feet.

But they just kept circling, restless and anxious, constantly raising their heads and howling.

Li Yuanchang noticed something was amiss and looked up. It was a very steep, bare rock face, so steep that only an antelope could walk on it.

There are only four.

"What are they doing?"

"This shouldn't be the tiger's den."

Li Yuanchang was puzzled and somewhat disappointed.

"Um?"

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened as he stared intently at the cliff face, where a dark spot was clearly moving.

"That, that's a person?" He almost squeezed out this incredible existence from his mouth.

All eyes turned to him, but no one could see clearly; they could only guess.

"Your Highness, it seems, it really does!" someone exclaimed, their eyes wide.

"It must be, otherwise these tigers wouldn't have been lingering down there so anxiously." Li Yuanchang muttered to himself.

"Go, make an incision in the rabbit you caught and throw it out!"

"yes!"

During the few days they were in the mountains, Li Yuanchang had people catch a lot of small wild animals, but they didn't eat them. He thought they were just for use as bait, and also so that they could throw their own things out to save their lives in case of an emergency.

Unexpectedly, before we even found the tiger's den, it came in handy.

The guards deftly used their knives to cut open the rabbit, drawing blood, before letting it escape.