Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 33 The nation's power has declined; even the Ming imperial elephants are starving.

During the Ming Dynasty, Beijing had four ring roads: the Forbidden City, the Imperial City, the Inner City, and the Outer City. The Outer City was only half-built before funds ran out. The elephant training area was located on the west side inside Xuanwu Gate, which belonged to the Inner City.

This was Zhu Youjian's first time leaving the palace since becoming emperor. Sometimes being an emperor is not as free as being a general. The last emperor of the Ming Dynasty who could roam freely was General Zhu Shou. Subsequent emperors could not even go to the outskirts of Beijing. Fortunately, wandering around Beijing would not trigger the death of civil officials who remonstrated against him.

To see elephants, one must ride in an elephant carriage. Zhu Youjian had never ridden in one before, so he summoned elephant palanquins and carriages to arrange a trip on the back of elephants.

The mighty Han general escorted the herd of elephants from the Forbidden City toward the elephant training center. The head of the center personally led the elephant for the emperor, his palms sweating with nervousness. He even regretted coming to report this supposed auspicious omen, not expecting the emperor's reaction to be so strong. Furthermore, he secretly hoped that the emperor, seeing the center's dire straits, would at least allocate some funds.

The last emperor who enjoyed traveling by elephant was Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty. General Zhu Shou tried it but ultimately failed. The Wanli Yehuo Bian records: "Emperor Wuzong once rode an elephant, but the elephant suddenly became agitated and almost fell over. His attendants rushed to his rescue and saved him. After that, he stopped elephant riding."

Zhu Youjian felt a little dizzy riding on the back of the elephant. The elephant's back moved up and down too much when it moved, making it extremely uncomfortable. In the end, he obediently sat on the elephant cart behind.

Sun Shixiu also wanted to ride an elephant, so Zhu Youjian finally let all four women ride one. The sister-in-law turned pale when she sat on it, while the princess, though delicate and frail, showed no fear. The Sun sisters were the most remarkable. Zhu Youjian observed that as they sat on the elephant's back, their bodies naturally undulating with its movement, yet they remained perfectly still, creating a strange and beautiful scene.

The journey from the palace to the elephant training camp didn't pass through any residential areas, and the seven-mile distance took about an hour. The elephant carriage was far slower than a horse-drawn carriage, but it possessed a more composed and dignified air. Near Elephant Street, government offices began to appear, including the Five Military Commands' Office. Zhu Youjian hadn't ordered the ceremonial guard to clear the area, so he was surrounded by onlookers. It was unclear whether they were watching the emperor or the elephants; not every official was qualified to attend court.

Zhu Youjian knew that the imperial edicts of remonstrance would surely pile up on his desk tomorrow, so he decided to make a quick profit and directly brought over the group of nobles from the Five Military Commissions who were slacking off and reading newspapers.

"Duke of England, come and ride with me." Zhu Youjian got out of the carriage and grabbed the wrist of Duke Zhang Weixian, pulling him back. At first, Zhang Weixian was a little hesitant, but under Zhu Youjian's forceful pull, he reluctantly got into the carriage. This was an elephant carriage, and even his ancestors Zhang Yu and Zhang Fu had never ridden in one!
"Minister Zhang, you'll definitely have a copy of the impeachment memorial tomorrow," Zhu Youjian said with a wicked grin.

Zhang Weixian froze, turned his head with difficulty, and looked at the emperor's young face in disbelief.

"Gentlemen, a baby elephant was born at the elephant training center last night. I wish to make an inspection tour of it. You may all accompany me," Zhu Youjian called out loudly to his ministers, one foot on the railing of his jade carriage.

The Ming Dynasty officials had never seen the emperor act so wildly before, and they were immediately dumbfounded. Some were still in a daze, while the clever ones had already quickly caught up and fallen behind the emperor's guards.

“Come on, Brother Boyuan, haven’t you always said you wanted to meet the Emperor?” Shi Kefa called out.

“We see elephants all the time, there’s nothing new about them,” Xu Yuanfang said, shaking his head.

"Are you stupid? So many of them followed, did they all just want to see the elephant? This is an opportunity to get close to the emperor, don't you understand?" Shi Kefa said, exasperated.

"Xianzhi, you go ahead. I won't go. I'll have a chance to meet His Majesty in the future," Xu Yuanfang said firmly, shaking his head. Watching the imperial carriage gradually disappear into the distance, Shi Kefa stamped his foot in exasperation, then lifted his robe and chased after it.

Xu Yuanfang looked around for a while, then turned and returned to the Ministry of Justice. With the emperor's ascension to the throne and a general amnesty, the Ministry of Justice needed to verify past case files and release prisoners who met the amnesty criteria, thus greatly increasing their workload. Xu Yuanfang had originally been an editor at the Hanlin Academy, but because the Ministry of Justice was short-staffed, they had borrowed him. The Vice Minister of Justice offered them, these temporary workers, a rosy promise: the two best performers could be retained.

In any case, this was an opportunity for Xu Yuanfang, a chance for him to escape the endless work of compiling books and officially begin his official career.

Shi Kefa was a student at the Imperial Academy just like him, but the difference was that he got his place by virtue of his father's influence, while Shi Kefa bought his place by donating money.

Shi Kefa initially looked down on the position of compiler in the Hanlin Academy assigned by the imperial court, so he gave the position to Xu Yuanfang. Shi Kefa himself said he wanted to take the imperial examinations, but Xu Yuanfang had repeatedly failed and was already in despair. Unlike Shi Kefa, who came from a wealthy family, Xu Yuanfang had a family to support, so he gladly accepted the position and was very grateful to Shi Kefa.

Inside the elephant training facility, Zhu Youjian saw the one-day-old elephant, but it seemed to be treated rather unwelcome. It tried to nurse from under a mother elephant's armpit, but the mother elephant kicked its head twice with her forelegs.

"What's going on?" Zhu Youjian asked in confusion.

The commander of the elephant training center, somewhat amused and exasperated, said, "Your Majesty, this little elephant has made a mistake. That female elephant isn't its mother; it's its maternal grandmother." Uh…

The baby elephant fell to the ground after being kicked twice, clutching its trunk and questioning its very existence, tears welling in its eyes. The old grandmother glanced at it sideways, picked it up with her trunk, and pushed it to her mother's side.

After several clumsy attempts, the baby elephant finally started drinking milk. Elephants are quite peculiar creatures; not only do they have a uniquely long trunk, but as a four-legged mammal, while cats and dogs have double-breasted trunks, elephants, like humans, only have two.

With the arrival of the baby elephant, the herd's territorial instincts exploded. Zhu Youjian brought a large group of people, which made the elephants somewhat nervous. As was their custom when attending grand ceremonies, more than a dozen adult elephants crossed their trunks to block the crowd.

However, they were very clever. When they saw the emperor arrive, they immediately knelt down and bowed to him. The baby elephant crawled out from under its mother's crotch, seemingly finding the scene amusing, and ran towards Zhu Youjian with a curious look, only to be tackled to the ground by its grandmother with its trunk.

"Can I touch it?" Zhu Youjian asked the elephant with feigned seriousness. The old grandmother, who was also the leader of the elephant herd, looked at Zhu Youjian with a puzzled expression; she wasn't smart enough to understand human speech.

However, the commander of the elephant training institute and the elephant officer said it was okay, so Zhu Youjian ran over excitedly and hugged the baby elephant under the watchful eyes of his grandmother.

The baby elephant tentatively touched Zhu Youjian's head with its trunk, rubbing off his winged hat. The old elephant picked up the hat and handed it back.

The moral order has collapsed! The officials who came to watch the spectacle were too frightened to utter a sound at the emperor's audacious act. Duke Zhang Weixian of Yingguo had already placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword. Tang Yu, the commander of the elephant training institute, blocked Zhang Weixian and pleaded in a low voice, "Duke Zhang Weixian, please don't do this. It will provoke the elephants."

"Tang Baixiang, you put His Majesty in danger, you deserve to die, do you know that?" Zhang Weixian growled through clenched teeth.

Tang Yu kept his head down and didn't speak. He was the eleventh-generation descendant of Tang He, the founding Duke of Xin, of the Ming Dynasty. As the second son, he was not eligible for the title of Marquis of Lingbi and could only work as a hereditary vice commander in the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Because Tang He's children died young, the Tang family's titles were interrupted for 140 years. After Emperor Daojun ascended the throne, he was in high spirits and, in order to win over the nobles, restored or re-granted titles to the descendants of many nobles who had been stripped of their ranks. Emperors usually compensated those who stripped them of their titles with a hereditary position in the Embroidered Uniform Guard; this is how his position as a vice-commander came about.

Over the years, he had grown accustomed to the elephant training center and no longer harbored any ambition to move. The reason he took such a great risk to attract the emperor's attention was not for himself, but for the elephant training center; more specifically, for the elephants within it.

From the reign of Emperor Shizong onwards, the ceremonial retinue of the Ming emperors was repeatedly reduced. The elephant training institute was essentially a ceremonial institution; when there were many elephants, they even had to pass examinations to compete for positions. However, now they were practically unemployed. The use of elephants was abolished during regular court sessions, and they were only used for grand court assemblies or large-scale ceremonies and sacrificial activities.

With the workload reduced, the compensation naturally suffered. The Ming Dynasty hadn't received any new tribute elephants for a long time; the existing elephants were old and frail, poorly fed, and many had died of illness. When he first took office during the Wanli era, the elephant training center had over fifty elephants, but now only twenty-odd remained.

Seeing the emperor and his empresses playing with the baby elephants, and the emperor looking very pleased, Tang Yu mustered up his courage and stepped forward to ask the emperor for money.

He complained to the emperor that he could no longer afford to feed the elephants. Previously, the elephants were fed three dou of old rice from the official granary, 160 jin of hay, and occasionally some fruits and vegetables. Now, they could only be fed wheat bran with straw and tree bark. The elephants were very unhappy and started to climb over the wall to escape.

The elephant training center couldn't afford to pay the salaries of its officials and the monthly wages of its servants, so even the officers of the Embroidered Uniform Guard were unwilling to work there, and they couldn't even recruit elephant officers.

"How dare you ask me for money?! Ten thousand taels? Why don't you just rob me?" Zhu Youjian was furious. "I'll give you a maximum of one thousand taels a month."

“Every month?!” Tang Yu’s eyes lit up. He knelt down abruptly and cried out, “Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty!”

"Huh?!?" Zhu Youjian's face darkened, and he said with a forced smile, "Minister Tang, the imperial elephants are only used a few times a year, yet they require long-term care. Such extravagance is not a sustainable solution. I have a solution: your elephant training institute can take the imperial elephants to the bustling city to perform, and you can give me half of the profits."

Zhu Youjian did want to train elephants into war elephants, but after many practices in the Ming Dynasty, it was proven that war elephants looked intimidating but their actual combat effectiveness was very poor. There was an elephant training garrison in Guangxi, which at its peak had more than 10,000 people and hundreds of elephants, but now there are less than 1,000 people left. They retain the function of patrolling the border but do not participate in direct combat.

(End of this chapter)