I

Paris.

Leibniz was writing letters to friends in China, and he had more than 30 pen pals in the Nanjing area alone.

But the letter right now is addressed to Zhao Zhenfang:

"His Royal Highness, Princess... I have received your letter. I am deeply saddened to learn that the great mathematician Mr. Xiao Shixuan has passed away. This is a great loss for mankind all over the world..."

"I have carefully read the "Book of Changes" translated by European scholars in Nanjing. Its author Fuxi is a worldwide figure and the earliest code-setter of human beings. Based on the Chinese materials I have come into contact with, the "Book of Changes" may be The oldest book in China, even in the world, it is the source of all science and philosophy in China. It is inherently consistent with the numbers in Pythagoras, Plato and Hebrew philosophy. They are all revelations from the Creator... ..."

"I think that from the time when Fuxi's gossip system was understood to today, the annotations written by Chinese authors for the "Book of Changes" in the past three thousand years have only blurred the original meaning of gossip and made China originally consistent with Christianity. Religion is skewed..."

"China's gossip system is consistent with Christian teachings. Dear Princess, please don't rush to refute my point of view. I am attaching a "Creation Map" here... 0 means 'everything comes from nothing', 1 means 'Everything is sufficient'. Expressed in eight trigrams, 0 is Yin'--', and 1 is Yang''. The sun is 11, Shaoyin is 10, Shaoyang is 01, and Taiyin is 00. Qian Gua is 111, against The hexagram is 011, and the hexagram is 101... Mr. Shao Yong's Fuxi Bagua Yitu in the Song Dynasty is actually a binary number table from 0 to 63..."

"I visited London a few years ago, and on my way back, I visited Mr. Spinoza in Holland. His pantheism contains terrible atheism. If Cartesian philosophy is elucidated by Spinoza's pantheism, it will eventually become leading to atheism..."

"During the French invasion of the Netherlands, Mr. Spinoza was invited by the French Marshal Condé as a guest. Since then, he has been regarded as a traitor by the Dutch. He also came into contact with Chinese philosophy and combined his pantheism with Chinese Neo-Confucianism. Because the Netherlands and China war, and his admiration of Chinese philosophy further confirms his traitorousness."

"Mr. Spinoza is a Jew. He believes that God is the universe, which is the Tai Chi in China. He believes that God includes the material world and the spiritual world, which is the Qi and Li in China. I don't quite agree with this view. ..."

"In my opinion, the universe is made up of 'monads'. 'Monads' are spiritual entities without parts, neither extension nor shape, and do not have quantitative stipulations, but only qualitative differences...every Each monad, by virtue of its own perception, represents the world with different degrees of clarity, and naturally evolves according to its own inherent internal principles..."

"And God is the highest monad that created all monads!"

"If the universe is likened to a band, God is the composer of the score of the cosmic order. Each list is a note, arranged harmoniously by God. This is fundamentally different from pantheism. In the understanding of pantheism, God is not the composer. rather than the score and the orchestra itself.”

"Mr. Newton in England may be because of his busy schedule. After all, he became the chancellor of the exchequer. His mechanistic theology is ridiculous. According to his theory, the universe is a machine, and God must keep winding the universe. , otherwise the universe would stop functioning..."

"I accept part of Mr. Spinoza's point of view, and I also believe that Christian teachings and Chinese Neo-Confucianism are common. However, I think Chinese Tai Chi is the God of Christianity, which is the highest monad in the universe. The binary derivation of 0 and 1 , is the music composed by God, that is, Tai Chi separates the yin and yang qi principles..."

"The biggest difference between me and pantheism is that God is the first reason for things, and the Chinese also think Tai Chi is the first reason for things. Therefore, Mr. Spinoza, there is a misunderstanding in the understanding of Chinese philosophy. According to his Viewpoint means that Tai Chi is all things, not Tai Chi derives all things..."

"Chinese scholars should proceed from the mathematical principles of "Book of Changes" to pursue the essential meaning of "Book of Changes", rather than relying on various secular explanations..."

"At the end of the writing, I once again pay tribute to Her Royal Highness, and admire your Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz."

With the deepening of exchanges between the East and the West, there are many famous Chinese scholars in Europe, but Zhao Zhenfang quickly became the most sought after one.

Although Zhao Zhenfang has some scientific research achievements, she can at most rank in the lower middle of China. Why did she gain a great reputation in Europe?

Very easy to understand!

First, Zhao Zhenfang is a woman, which is a rare phenomenon in European academic circles.

Second, Zhao Zhenfang is the younger sister of the Chinese emperor and has the honorable status of the eldest princess of China.

Therefore, even though Zhao Zhenfang is more than 50 years old, there are still beautiful portraits of her youth circulating in Europe.

It was drawn by an Italian official in Nanjing with his memory, and his memory automatically turned on the beautification. The original painting was bought by a businessman, and when it was shipped to the Netherlands, it was auctioned for a sky-high price, and was bought by Louis XIV at a higher price. At this time, it was collected in the Palace of Versailles in France.

Louis XIV, the Sun King, often invited nobles to hold balls in the Palace of Versailles. The portrait of the eldest princess of China was well known by the Parisian nobles, and then copied and disseminated by painters.

I wrote two more replies, one of which was written on the toilet.

Unlike Newton, Leibniz was not keen on fame and wealth, and he didn't even like socializing, because it would waste precious time. This gentleman is thinking, reading and writing even when he is eating and drinking!

But sometimes, entertainment is necessary.

Especially after Leibniz communicated with the Emperor of China, the correspondence was sent through the French diplomatic system. Of course, this news cannot be concealed. The nobles in France soon knew that Leibniz and Zhao Han were pen pals.

This time, the French diplomat brought back two letters from Zhao Han, one addressed to Louis XIV and the other to Leibniz.

To celebrate the Chinese emperor's reply, Louis XIV decided to hold a ball.

This is of course an excellent reason, and more reliable than other reasons. There are too many reasons for Louis XIV's ball, such as: today's stool is smooth, and a ball should be held to celebrate it!

In the afternoon, Leibniz left his residence and took a carriage to the suburban Palace of Versailles.

The urban area of ​​Paris is still stinky, although scholars who returned from China have elaborated on the Nanjing excrement cleaning model. But it cannot be replicated in France at all, because an industrial chain needs to be established, and the nobles and officials have no interest in it.

Even the feces problem in the Louvre has not been solved yet.

French excrement workers must work at night. Those who are black and white will fall into the latrine if they don't pay attention. The death rate of dung workers is extremely high. The poor in France would rather be beggars than be dung workers unless they have to.

Smelling the stench coming from the streets from time to time, Leibniz naturally remembered the content of the correspondence. Whether it is for settlement or for short-term diplomacy, all Europeans who have been to China are full of praise for China's urban management, and even feel inferior to Europe because of this.

Not long after, the carriage drove near the Palace of Versailles.

There are three straight avenues, the traffic condition is very good, and there are already residential and office units nearby. The three avenues were laid by Louis XIV in order to attract residents to move here.

Many nobles and rich people built their new houses near the Palace of Versailles. But most of them are civil structures, because Louis XIV ordered that no stone should be used in new buildings across the country within ten years. This is to ensure that the stone supply of the Palace of Versailles is sufficient.

The current Palace of Versailles is still under construction, and some new buildings are added every year.

Before declaring his status as a diplomat, Leibniz was released and drove into the gate of the Palace of Versailles in a carriage.

On the way, Leibniz got out of the car and walked, and the driver drove the carriage to the stables.

The majestic palaces and vast gardens are in sight. The Chinese gardens with winding paths have been criticized in Europe and have always been regarded as not in line with aesthetics. European aristocrats and artists felt that everything was good in China, but there was something lacking in architecture, and garden construction and interior design were messy.

Leibniz looked into the distance, and the unfinished porcelain tower could be seen faintly.

The Versailles Porcelain Pagoda, imitated from Nanjing's glazed pagoda, has been built to be more than 50 meters high at this time, and its final height will exceed the glazed pagoda. The only thing that made Louis XIV feel depressed was that he lacked enough porcelain and glass, so he could only paste ceramic tiles on the outer wall, and finally painted a layer of white ash to pretend to be a porcelain tower.

As night fell, more and more nobles came.

The main hall is brightly lit with hundreds of candles. A few decades ago, this would have been impossible, at least it was impossible to hold such dances every now and then. Of course there were candles, but they were of poor quality, full of smell and black smoke. Smokeless and odorless candles are also relatively expensive consumables for the French royal family.

But now it is different. France's national strength continues to rise, and the candle technology is also more advanced. It can afford more than ten large-scale dances a month.

Staying up late is a noble privilege and a symbol of consumption power!

The nobles are keen to light high-end candles to stay up late, and the Parisian nobles collectively turn upside down day and night. The Palace of Versailles does not hold balls, but other aristocrats will also hold them. They stay up all night almost every day, and the daytime becomes bedtime instead.

Louis XIV appeared with the queen on his arm. Leibniz quickly stood up and saluted the king together with the nobles.

Next to the king and queen, there was an Asian woman wearing a pleated skirt, which instantly attracted the attention of all the guests.

Louis XIV proudly introduced: "This is Mrs. Yang from China. She and her husband are both Chinese nobles. What makes people sad is that her husband died of illness, and she fought an inheritance lawsuit with her husband's family Mrs. Yang only got a small amount of inheritance, she was very dissatisfied with this, and decided to leave China and settle in Europe. Now, Mrs. Yang is my palace art advisor."

The dance scene suddenly became lively. If the king was not present, I don't know how many nobles went to strike up a conversation.

However, the French queen's expression at the moment inevitably had some forced smiles. What court art advisor? Obviously the mistress of the king!

Of course, Louis XIV was also tricked by diplomats.

He wanted to get a Chinese lady to be his lover, but the diplomat had no choice but to spend a lot of money to find a high-class prostitute.

The so-called Mrs. Yang's mother was the illegitimate daughter of a Dutch colonist and a Japanese woman. After the Dutch colonists were expelled, her mother married a landlord in Yecheng as a concubine. After the landlord died, the mother and daughter were sold by the main wife to traffickers. Because of her young age, Mrs. Yang was bought to learn piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and then sold to Guangzhou as a high-end prostitute.

Nearly thirty years old, Mrs. Yang, a famous prostitute, married a Guangzhou sea merchant as a concubine.

In this case, the people in China do not raise officials and do not investigate, but it is illegal to really investigate. Mrs. Yang was so proud of her favor that she was sued by her first wife, and the sea merchant was forced to pay a huge fine. This matter caused quite a stir, and when French diplomats passing through Guangzhou learned of it, they gave a lot of money privately to persuade Mrs. Yang, who didn't know where she was going, to take a boat to Paris to fool Louis XIV.

As a result, Mrs. Yang became the widow of a Chinese nobleman who went overseas due to an inheritance lawsuit, and of course became the mistress of the king.

This Mrs. Yang is of mixed blood from the Netherlands, Japan, and China. She has also learned piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting since she was a child, and learned how to serve men since she was a child. His appearance combines the advantages of both Chinese and Western, and he exudes a gentle and scholarly temperament. He also learned French during the voyage, and he figured out Louis XIV's temper in a few days. The French Sun King was coaxed into a dizzy state.

Facing the eager eyes of many nobles, Mrs. Yang smiled, her smile was flattering and elegant, and she greeted everyone with a blessing.

Although it was unclear what etiquette this was, the French nobles still stepped forward to salute one after another. And those French ladies are carefully observing Mrs. Yang's behavior, thinking about how to wear a whalebone skirt to perform this oriental meeting ceremony.

Louis XIV proudly said: "Mrs. Yang is not only a Chinese noble lady, but also an artist. Before the official start of the ball, I invite Mrs. Yang to show her superb painting skills."

The paints have been adjusted long ago, and the complete set of painting equipment was also shipped from China.

Mrs. Yang behaved gracefully, and said to everyone in French: "Time is short, I will draw a sketch tonight."

The drawing paper was spread out on the dining table, and Mrs. Yang picked up a pen to scribble casually.

At first, nothing could be seen, but soon the shape appeared, a bird was standing on the branch. The birds are painted in ink, but the branches are full of peach blossoms, and a little bit of red makes the picture scroll bright.

The nobles were amazed by the rapid creation of exquisite pictures, and no longer questioned Mrs. Yang's identity as an artist.

Then, Mrs. Yang showed her piano skills again, playing the pipa first, and then the guzheng. The French nobles gathered around Mrs. Yang as if they were hearing the fairy music, and they did not want to leave.

Instead of being angry, Louis XIV felt that his face was bright, and he was smiling from beginning to end.

He has already decided to build a palace in the Palace of Versailles specially for Mrs. Yang, and all of them will follow the specifications of Chinese gardens.

Only the Queen of France, and another mistress who had just fallen out of favor, stood at the ball with black faces all the time.

A famous courtesan from China is about to disrupt the French court!

Immediately afterwards, Louis XIV performed the ballet in person and won applause from the audience. Madam Yang was disdainful in her heart, but she also applauded enthusiastically and cast admiring gazes at the king.

Finally, when it was time to dance, Louis III, the current Duke of Orleans and Prince of Condé, obtained the king's permission to invite Mrs. Yang to dance.

The two hugged each other. Mrs. Yang was not familiar with this kind of dance, she kept apologizing for stepping on her feet, and praised Louis III for being handsome and manly.

Before the song was over, the prince was coaxed into a smile and asked, "What title was Madam before?"

According to the script, Mrs. Yang nonsense said: "My father was the marquis of the previous dynasty in China, and I am his only child. The Chinese emperor established a new dynasty, and my family also declined, so I was forced to marry a wealthy businessman. .”

The prince said with pity: "I'm really sorry to bring up your sadness. Perhaps, we should call you the Marquis."

"I like this title." Mrs. Yang smiled.

Ever since, the famous prostitute from China became the Marquis in this way. And those French nobles are all proud of associating with the Chinese Marquis. When Parisian ladies hold salons, they always invite the Marchioness to participate, and they also need to place some porcelain in the salon, otherwise they will appear to be out of class.

The prince asked again: "Madam, have you ever seen Her Royal Highness the Eldest Princess of China?"

Mrs. Yang had obviously been trained on the ship to know which one the eldest princess was referring to. She smiled and said: "Her Royal Highness and her husband have lived in Guangzhou for several years, and I happened to live in Guangzhou at that time. I have the honor to meet Her Royal Highness a few times. She is very beautiful and smart. You may I can't believe it, when I saw Her Royal Highness, she was already 50 years old, but she didn't look old at all, as if she was still 30 years old."

"Really?" the prince asked in surprise.

Mrs. Yang said: "Of course, Her Royal Highness also likes art, so I was invited. But she will also invite many scholars to talk about some philosophical topics. I don't understand mathematics and astronomy at all, but Her Royal Highness is very proficient. Let the invited scholars also admire it."

The prince said with emotion: "It's a perfect princess, it's a pity I can't witness her in person."

With the spread of the portrait, Zhao Zhenfang's popularity in France is already second only to Emperor Zhao Han.

Even, Zhao Zhenfang gradually appeared in literary works, and the content was almost the same.

It is a down-and-out aristocrat from France who went to sea to experience various adventures and accepted the help of a Chinese princess when he arrived in Guangzhou. Every time Zhao Zhenfang appears in the novel, she is always full of style and beauty, and she is also full of resourcefulness, and even has an extramarital affair with the male protagonist.

A few years later, Zhao Zhenfang's second son got a French translation of the novel, and was immediately pissed off by the contents.

Zheng Sen also learned about the situation from his son, he couldn't help but cry, his stomach was full of fire and he didn't know who to turn to, so he couldn't go to France to ban this book, right?

At this moment, Louis XIV was complacent.

Wearing leggings and high heels, he looked around the entire dance floor with a look of contempt for the world. Under his rule, France has already dominated the European continent, and now there is a Chinese marquise as a mistress. Both career and life are so perfect.

That's why he uttered the famous saying: "I am the Sun King of the West, Zhao is the Philosopher King of the East, and the two greatest monarchs in the world are here."