The following story is from "Taiping Guangji", a classic documentary collection of the Song Dynasty. The translation has been slightly modified. When Wu Zetian was in power in the Tang Dynasty, there was a man named Mo Ju from Langzhou who lived by the river and made a living by

The following story is from the classic documentary collection of the Song Dynasty " Taiping Guangji ", and the translation has been slightly changed.

During the reign of Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty , there was a man named Mo Ju from Langzhou who lived by the river and made a living by collecting firewood. He is the only one in the family and life is difficult. Sometimes, Mo Ju would go to the river to cut reeds. Reeds can be used as firewood after drying. Thick reed poles can also be used to make fishing rods or other things, while thin reed poles can be used to weave mats, baskets, baskets, etc.

One day, Mo Ju went to the riverside to cut reeds alone. Thick reeds grow in this place. Even if there is no firewood in winter, these reeds can be cut down and sold for the winter. Mo worked for a long time and rested by the river when he was tired.

was asleep when an elephant appeared out of nowhere and ran towards Mo Ju. Mo Ju was startled and was about to dodge, but the elephant had already come to him, rolled up Mo Ju with its trunk and put it on his back. Mo Ju thought the elephant was going to kill him at first, but when he landed on the elephant's body, he relaxed a little. It seems that this elephant is not trying to make trouble with himself.

Riding on the back of the elephant, the elephant continued to walk for about a hundred miles and came to a large swamp. At this time, Mo Ju discovered that there was an elephant in the big lake. Doesn't seem too young yet. It was an old elephant, much bigger than the elephant just now. It seems that this is an adult elephant, and the one carrying him is a baby elephant. The old elephant seemed to be sick, lying in the water, gasping for air, and shouting loudly from time to time, which sounded very painful. After Mo Ju saw it, he guessed that the old elephant was sick and needed treatment. However, he himself is not a doctor, so how can he save the old elephant? The elephant knelt down, and Mo Ju jumped off the elephant's back and walked to the old elephant. The old elephant stretched out one foot, and saw a large bamboo stuck in the sole of the foot, with only a small part exposed. I guess the bamboo inserted into the bottom of the foot is relatively long. The old elephant moved his foot stuck in the bamboo and looked at Mo Ju's and his own feet. At this point, Mo Xie completely understood that the elephant was not seeking medical treatment, but wanted someone to help it pull out the bamboo from the soles of its feet. Otherwise, it would have no way to get out of the swamp, and even if it managed to get out, it would have difficulty finding food and walking because of the injuries to its soles. Mo Juhe untied the rope from his waist, tied it to the bamboo on the old elephant's foot, and pulled out the bamboo with all his strength. The old elephant screamed in pain, and then a large amount of pus flowed out from the soles of his feet, amounting to more than five or six liters. After the pus drains out, blood begins to flow out. At this time, the baby elephant, who had been watching, began to walk towards the surrounding grass. It found a lot of herbs similar to mugwort, and then rolled it in front of Mo Ju. Mo Ju understood that he wanted him to use grass to stop the bleeding and heal the old elephant's wounds. Perhaps passed down from generation to generation, many animals know what grass to use to stop bleeding after being injured. The most important things in nature are herbs. Mo Ju took the grass, picked off the thick branches, crushed the remaining thin leaves, and stuffed them under the old elephant's feet until they were full. He also found a piece of wood and asked the old elephant to place his injured foot on it so that the soles of his feet would not be immersed in the sewage. After a long time, the old elephant moved the injured foot away again, and the wound seemed to be better. It stood up, put its injured foot on the ground, and tried to walk. At first it didn't work, but slowly it started to walk. Later I could walk normally. Lao Xiang gave a long cheer and looked at Mo Ju again, as if to express his gratitude. The wound has healed and my mission has been completed, so I am leaving. The old elephant stopped him with his trunk, then called the little elephant next to him, pointed at the mountain with his long nose, and called again. The baby elephant immediately ran into the mountains. After a long time, it came out of the mountains with a white thing wrapped around its nose. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an ivory, about one meter long. Mo Wei was puzzled. When the old elephant saw this, he roared angrily and seemed very dissatisfied, so the young elephant went into the mountain again. After a while, another larger ivory rolled up, more than two meters long. Mo Ju was hungry, so he patted his belly and said to the old elephant: General Xiang, General Xiang, it's useless for me to ask for ivory. I'm hungry and just want to eat. The baby elephant seemed to understand and went into the mountain to find fruit. When Mo Xie was full, he said he wanted to go home, but he didn't know the way.He hoped General Xiang could send him back. So, the little elephant rolled up Mo Ju again, carried it on his back, and handed it to Mo Ju together with the huge ivory. After walking for a few miles, the baby elephant suddenly turned around and walked back. It turned out that Mo Yu's knife was forgotten, but the little elephant remembered it and went to get it. After picking up the knife, he continued walking back until he reached the reeds by the river. After Mo Yu came down, the little elephant seemed to be reluctant to leave. He rubbed his head against Mo Yu and flapped his two big ears. After dawdling for a long time, the little elephant left.

Mo Ju carried the ivory home, and later had people take the ivory to Hongzhou to sell it. Businessman Hu took a fancy to the ivory and offered 400,000 taels of silver as a guaranteed minimum price. He also told everyone to auction it off and put it in the store. In fact, he wanted to buy it himself and had already discussed it with the shop owner. Hu Shang took the ivory and wrapped it in a mat, for fear that others would miss it. When he arrived at a store, others saw him carrying a heavy mat and wanted to see what was inside, but Hu Shang refused. The shopkeeper untied the mat and said it was ivory. Everyone can bid, and the highest bidder can buy the ivory. Another Hu man saw the ivory and was very moved. He secretly discussed with the shopkeeper and said that he would buy the ivory for one million taels. As long as the shop owner cooperates, he will be given 10,000 taels as an intermediary fee. The owner agreed. Soon, the barbarian took out the money and wanted to take away the ivory. Hu Shang was not happy and said that the ivory belonged to him and the price had been set, which was 400,000 taels of silver. The two had a quarrel, which ended up in the Yamen.

Fu Yin saw the huge ivory and felt that it was not simple. Although such large ivory is rare and can be carved into exquisite handicrafts, it does not require spending hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver to buy it. So the governor asked the two businessmen why they paid such a high price for the ivory. The two businessmen refused to tell the truth, but Fu Yin said: "This ivory is very big and does not look like local things. I plan to confiscate this ivory and present it to the Queen of Heaven." If you don't tell the truth, this ivory will be lost. its value. Isn't this a waste of natural resources? Under Fu Yin's questioning, Hu Shang finally told the truth: This ivory is huge and unusual. What's even more amazing is that there are two dragons in the tusks, which look like they are swimming. Cut into pieces, they can be made into dragon slips (documents used to pray to heaven and earth during sacrifices). If the Queen likes this, if you can donate it to the Queen, you may make a profit of 100,000,000 yuan. Finally, the governor reported the incident to Queen Wu Zetian.

Wu Zetian was very curious and asked Mo Ju and the merchant to go to the palace and let the craftsmen cut the elephant tusks in front of her. Sure enough, I got two dragon slips that looked like swimming dragons. Wu Zetian rewarded the merchants and released them. Wu Zetian said to Mo Ju again: "You don't look like a rich man. Giving you too much money at one time may cause disaster." Let's do this. From now on, I will ask Fu Yin to give you 50,000 taels of silver every year, and then ask him for it when you use it up until your death. Mo Ju thanked the Queen for her kindness, and from then on he became a very rich man, and he had no worries about food and drink for several lifetimes.