Zeng Cheng would rather face someone like Howard, who was filled with hatred for the Great Ming, than someone like Pierre, a fanatic.
As a disciple of Voltaire, the Enlightenment thinker, writer, philosopher, King of French Thought, finest French poet, conscience of Europe, most quintessential element, chief of the "central blowers," and head of the "five-cent cadres," Pierre, after witnessing the differences between the Qing and the Great Ming, had firmly come to believe that the Great Ming was the ancient Eastern land of milk and honey described by Marco Polo, the ideal kingdom in the hearts of his teacher and himself.
As for the Tartar Qing?
They were merely a pack of barbarians, coarse and rude, knowing only how to plunder and not how to produce, mere vermin.
According to Pierre, his teacher, Voltaire, who had spent his life criticizing European monarchical despotism, was a die-hard fan of Chinese Confucian culture. He greatly admired Confucius, even hanging a portrait of Confucius in his home chapel to worship him day and night.
In Voltaire's eyes, the "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and sincerity" taught by Confucianism were true culture of equality, freedom, and fraternity. At that time, China was a model of enlightened absolutism and an object of study for France. He even called the Chinese "the most rational of all men."
The one who could compare with Voltaire in being a "die-hard" was another great scholar of France, François Quesnay. Quesnay wrote "The Despotism of China," in which he described China's Confucian culture and political system, and was consequently known as the "European Confucius."
In private conversations with Zeng Cheng, Pierre even cursed our Tartar Qing, saying, "Those damned barbarians, they whitewash one feudal, dictatorial, and tyrannical monarch after another as wise and divine rulers. They have deceived my teacher and all Europeans."
"Alas, my teacher, Scholar Voltaire, was summoned to heaven by God long ago. Otherwise, he would have personally come to the Great Ming to see what a golden country truly is."
"However, fortunately, Scholar Denis Diderot and Scholar Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach, are still alive, and they still have the opportunity."
For Zeng Cheng, Englishmen like Howard, who harbored hatred for the Great Ming, were not frightening. What was frightening were fanatics of the Great Ming like Pierre.
They wanted to learn everything about the Great Ming, wishing they could even move all of the Great Ming's systems to France.
In the Western calendar year of 1735, the French missionary Jean-Baptiste du Halde, who had never been to China, accomplished a difficult feat: solely based on the correspondence records sent by missionaries in China, he translated volumes 31 to 39 of the Ming dynasty's agricultural compendium, "The Complete Treatise on Agricultural Administration."
After this, these eight volumes, which recorded chapters on sericulture and cotton cultivation in China, circulated widely in Europe, with various versions in English and other languages successively appearing. Tsarist Russia also specifically imported and translated them into Russian.
Furthermore, such "difficult" breakthroughs were not the result of any missionary's overzealousness.
In the Western calendar year of 1765, the French Minister of Finance Anne Robert Jacques Turgot presented fifty-two tasks to the French missionaries about to be dispatched to China. These included the imperative to learn Chinese techniques for papermaking, fruit tree cultivation, and agriculture, as well as China's unique large-format paper manufacturing techniques and tung oil production techniques. These were continuously brought to Europe by these missionaries, and even grain seeds and tea cultivation techniques were gradually learned by Europeans during this period.
Even porcelain was mastered by the French missionary Pierre d'Incarville, who conducted discreet investigations in Jingdezhen, successfully grasping the firing method by the Western calendar year of 1717. By the Western calendar year of 1768, France produced exquisite hard-paste porcelain, thus breaking China's export monopoly on porcelain.
Zeng Cheng still remembered the undisguised excitement, pride, contempt for the Tartar Qing, and hope for the future in Pierre's expression when he spoke of these matters.
If Zeng Cheng were still the prefect of Tai'an Prefecture of our Great Qing, it would be Pierre's business how much he learned, and it would have nothing to do with him, the prefect of Tai'an Prefecture, who didn't even qualify to be a slave.
But now he was the Grand Secretariat of the Great Ming. If such a matter, most detested by the Great Ming Emperor, occurred during his tenure, would he not be forever infamy-ridden?
The thought that the people accompanying Pierre to visit the Great Ming would certainly be Frenchmen similar to Pierre made Zeng Cheng want to tear his hair out.
This was different from French students coming to the Great Ming. It was relatively easier to control what those French students learned. However, these French nobles were not so easy to manage.
Just as Zeng Cheng was agonizing and about to tear his hair out, Zhu Jinsong smiled and said, "Prefect Zeng, you've made the matter sound too complicated. The reason European nobles are nobles is because of their birth. Even a pig, as long as it successfully reincarnates into the Bourbon family, that pig is also a noble."
"It's already quite difficult to have a few scholars among these two hundred-plus people. The rest are basically high-ranking officials and dignitaries who have come to see the novelty. These people are the easiest to deal with."
If the speaker of these words were not Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, but someone else, Zeng Cheng would have had to ask, "Are you out of your mind?" or "How can you make such a casual statement!"
The problem was that the speaker was Zhu Jinsong, so Zeng Cheng could only ask with half belief, "May I know what ingenious plan His Majesty has?"
Zhu Jinsong said, "Have someone retrieve the Rites of Zhou from the ancient texts and teach them 'propriety.'"
"The more tedious and complex the etiquette, the more these European noble lords are willing to learn, as if only by doing so can they prove their superiority. Coincidentally, the Rites of Zhou are sufficient to meet their needs."
"Since Louis XIV held a 'King of China' ball a hundred years ago, let them study the Rites of Zhou well and strive to do better next time."
On January 7, 1700, in the resplendent Palace of Versailles, Louis XIV, dressed in Chinese attire, slowly alighted from an eight-bearer sedan chair and held a grand New Century ball. The "Chinese Ball" named "King of China" represented the "China Fever" fashion that had swept across Europe for a whole century.
Upon hearing this news, Zeng Cheng immediately laughed, "This Qian Long, who is good at everything he learns from his grandfather, even picked up the habit of traveling south. Could it be that this Louis XVI of France is also like Qian Long?"
Zhu Jinsong glanced at Zeng Cheng with disdain and mocked, "Louis XV was the great-grandson of Louis XIV, and Louis XVI was the grandson of Louis XV. If we were to count, Louis XVI should be the fifth-generation grandson of Louis XIV."
Zeng Cheng nodded sheepishly and then perked up, "These barbarians are indeed ignorant. The great-grandson of Louis XIV used the reign title of Louis XV. It's really inconvenient. In my opinion, why not teach them the ritual of reign titles as well?"
"Also, posthumous titles and temple names, and our Great Ming's language and characters. Let them learn. These things, ordinary people might not be able to fully grasp even in a lifetime."
"When they have learned enough, then grant them a few titles of Great Ming scholars, and we can also use their hands to help translate books from Europe."
With a few words, Zeng Cheng had arranged everything for these French nobles. Even Zhu Jinsong was stunned.
Compared to Prefect Zeng Cheng, Zhu Jinsong felt he was quite magnanimous.
...
While Zeng Cheng was meticulously arranging matters for Pierre and other French nobles, Pierre was excitedly introducing the Great Ming to the nobles on board and various precautions upon arrival in the Great Ming.
"Please remember, gentlemen, ladies, and young ladies, in the Ming country, please remember to respect everyone. If you show them friendliness, you will receive their friendliness."
"Please remember to put away your arrogance, gentlemen, ladies, and young ladies, because anyone here might have ancestors who were emperors from thousands of years ago. They are nobles passed down through generations."
As Pierre's words fell, the French nobles on board couldn't help but cover their mouths.
"Good heavens, this is simply unbelievable. Nobles for thousands of years, it's truly unimaginable."
"I want to know, how many years of history does our France have? Does it have a thousand years?"
"Are they older than the Roman Empire?"
Pierre shrugged and said, "Yes, thousands of years of inheritance, never interrupted. Whether it's the royal family or commoners, they all possess their own, umm, genealogies. They have genealogies to prove who each generation of their family members is."
"It's the same for the history of the country. They have a complete set of recording methods, including the year, who, and what happened, all clearly recorded."
"In this regard, what is called our history in France, or the history of all of Europe, is simply a joke—so, please do not tell them about our history, otherwise, they will misunderstand us as barbarians without history, just like the Tartar Qing we encountered before."
At this point, Pierre shrugged again and said humorously, "Compared to the Great Ming, the Tartar Qing we encountered before were simply a pack of shameful robbers, thieves, and executioners. They invaded the Great Ming during its period of internal turmoil and enslaved its citizens."
"They whitewashed those despicable, shameless, feudal, dictatorial, and tyrannical monarchs as wise and divine rulers. They deceived all Europeans."
"Fortunately, the brave and fearless Ming people never stopped resisting. Even though the Great Ming had been extinguished for more than 150 years, until the appearance of the current Great Ming Emperor, they finally succeeded."
"Gentlemen, ladies, and young ladies, let us raise our glasses to congratulate our French allies in the Far East for re-establishing the Great Ming Empire, and also congratulate ourselves for having the opportunity to witness the magical country of milk and honey described by Marco Polo."
The Roman nobles were greatly moved by Pierre's words. They all raised their glasses and shouted, "To our French allies in the Far East!"
"And to ourselves!"
After everyone finished their red wine, Pierre continued, "Listen, gentlemen, ladies, and young ladies, on the land of the Great Ming, never say anything bad about the Emperor of the Republic. Even if you hear their citizens commenting on their Emperor, do not interrupt rashly, because this is a right granted to them by the laws of the Great Ming. They can even openly say the Great Ming Emperor is an idiot, but if you dare to say it, the consequences may be very severe."
"Doing so is not only very impolite but may also lead their citizens to believe you disrespect their Emperor—they will develop hostility towards you, which may lead them to inform the authorities and have you expelled from the country."
"Believe me, the laws of the Great Ming are infinitely biased towards its citizens. In protecting civilians, the Emperor of the Great Ming does better than all monarchs in European history."
"Furthermore, gentlemen, do not embrace any woman you see, even if it is to express your enthusiasm. They will consider you barbarians who do not understand etiquette because the emotions of the Ming people are very subtle and reserved. Suddenly embracing a woman you don't know will only bring you trouble."