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

"Your Highness, this is it!"

"This road is three miles from the accident site and has a lot of traces, but no wheel tracks or hoofprints were found in the forest in between."

"I wonder if it was left behind by passing merchants," Yuan Tong said uncertainly, holding up a torch.

Li Yuanchang looked around. It was a narrow, winding path, completely surrounded by mountains and forests.

"It shouldn't have been left by merchants. Merchants wouldn't choose to take this route unless they were tired of living!"

"Their first choice would definitely be a road with more people, or a post road."

"This place doesn't look like it."

As he spoke, he quickly walked down the earthen slope, where there was a large amount of horse manure, which he estimated to be from over a hundred horses.

Li Yuanchang poked the horse manure with the handle of his knife again, his eyes sharp.

"That's them! The horse manure hasn't completely dried and hardened yet; it was left recently!"

Upon hearing this, the large group of guards were in an uproar. It really was them!

"Yuan Tong, take eighty men and follow this road to investigate."

"If anything happens, do not act immediately. Return and inform me," Li Yuanchang said decisively.

Although he knew the chances were slim, he still had to give it a try.

"yes!"

Yuan Tong quickly led his men in pursuit along the way.

Li Yuanchang led his men to stay in place and continue reconnaissance. After a short while, he made another discovery.

"Can you smell anything?"

Guo Chao and Zhou Yao were both bewildered, and sniffed hard.

"Your Highness, it smells like horse manure."

"No, it's not horse manure, so why does it smell a bit like distilled liquor?" Li Yuanchang asked suspiciously.

"Look for it!"

"yes!"

The guards pressed torches to the ground and searched bit by bit, even parting the bushes.

The smell of distilled spirits is becoming more and more noticeable, after all, distilled spirits have a high alcohol content and a very strong flavor.

Suddenly, one of the guards exclaimed.

"here!"

"Found it! I found it!"

In an instant, all eyes turned to them.

Li Yuanchang hurried over and took a wine bottle covered in mud. The bottle was long and slender and entirely green.

He sniffed it and confirmed that it was distilled spirit.

To save time in selling its distilled spirits, Zuixianfang uses regular wine jars, each containing ten jin (5 kg). Due to the special nature of distilled spirits, no one can possibly drink ten jin.

Therefore, merchants in various places will choose to repackage them and sell them in portions of one ounce, half a pound, or a pound.

If we follow the bottle as the source, we might be able to find the person who bought the wine.

"Zhou Yao, have you ever seen this bottle?"

Zhou Yao shook his head.

"Your Highness, I have never seen him before."

"But it's probably not something ordinary people can use. Bottles with such colors wouldn't be cheap to make; ordinary households usually use earthenware pots."

Li Yuanchang seemed to be deep in thought. He put the bottle away, feeling that it might be a key clue to uncovering the real culprit.

"..."

Time passed second by second, and from the first half of the night to the fourth quarter of midnight, a full three hours had passed.

Everyone waited quietly in place, hoping that Yuan Tong could bring back good news. If he really tracked him down, they would go straight there and close the case.

"Torch!"

"There are torches!"

"It's Lieutenant Yuan back!"

Someone shouted, breaking the deathly silence of the night. All the guards turned to look, their eyes filled with excitement.

Only Li Yuanchang frowned slightly. He knew that they must not have been able to track them down, otherwise Yuan Tong would not have returned so quickly.

The longer it takes, the more likely it is to happen; the shorter it takes, the less likely it is to happen.

"Whoa!!"

As expected, Yuan Tong dismounted and knelt down, clasping his hands in a fist and pleading, "Your Highness, please forgive me."

"We chased after them for more than several dozen miles, but there were many mountains, and the hoofprints gradually disappeared. In the end, we could no longer keep up."

Upon hearing this, everyone felt slightly disappointed.

Li Yuanchang remained calm, as he had been prepared for this outcome: "It's alright. I was just giving it a try. I've already found new clues."

"Let's go back to Yangping County first and then talk about it."

"yes!"

……

At the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), Li Yuanchang led his troops into the city successfully.

Wei County was very small; its city walls were one-third shorter than those of Liangzhou, and its area was several times smaller, with a population of only about a thousand households.

There are very few pavilions; earthen houses make up half the area, and you can see the whole thing from horseback.

Li Yuanchang took up residence directly in the county government office.

The county government office was fairly clean and spacious, but the furnishings were outdated and it didn't feel like a grand hall at all.

As soon as he arrived, Yang Zhuo, having received the news, immediately led his men to the scene.

"This humble servant greets Your Highness, the Prince of Han!"

Yang Zhuo lost his son in middle age, and suddenly seemed to have aged ten years, looking like a man in his forties. His eyes were red, and he was dressed in black, exuding a heavy heart.

Li Yuanchang stepped forward and personally helped the person up.

"Lord Yang, please accept my condolences."

"Wei County can no longer handle this matter. I have personally inspected the area and found that there are at least a hundred bandits. I will personally handle this matter and give your son an explanation, and give everyone an explanation."

Yang Zhuo burst into tears immediately. Losing a son in middle age is something that not everyone can bear.

"Your Highness, please allow me to participate. I wish to avenge my son myself!"

"This subordinate has only one request!"

Li Yuanchang nodded and readily agreed, "Okay."

"Let's talk inside first."

Yang Zhuo forced himself to stand up, wiping away his tears: "Yes."

The county government's main hall was brightly lit, with only the occasional bark of a dog in the darkness.

Before Li Yuanchang could speak, Yang Zhuo said first, "Your Highness, within a hundred li of Wei County, especially towards Fengzhou, there are about three groups of mountain bandits."

"One group is from Black Peak Gang, another is from the Snakehead Gang, and the third is from outlaws who travel around committing crimes."

"It must be one of these three groups!"

Li Yuanchang nodded: "Don't get excited. The bandits will definitely be wiped out; none of them will escape."

"Take a look at this first."

He took out the emerald green bottle he had found earlier. Compared to searching for a needle in a haystack, it was clearly more appropriate to accurately pinpoint the real culprit.

He worried that if the first shot was fired at the wrong person, the real culprit would immediately flee once he learned that the government had begun a military crackdown. That's how bandits were in ancient times; they were very difficult to eradicate completely unless they were killed in one blow!