His Majesty Pope Clement X, the great Vatican monarch, successor to the Apostle Peter, representative of Christ on earth, Most Holy Father, His Holiness Pope Clement X, your faithful servant, Christian missionary, papal envoy and Jesuit Joachim Bouvet, writes this letter with great emotion, to tell you what I have seen and heard in the mysterious East, and to convey to you on behalf of His Royal Highness the great Prince Lou, to pay homage to God, and to express his love for all people who truly love and bless them with good health. [Full text reading]

Your Majesty, Great Pope, in accordance with the will of the Lord and your orders, in order to investigate the truth about the murder of the faithful Ferdinand Verbiest in the capital of the Qing Empire, to spread the Gospel of the Lord to the people of the East, and to convey His Majesty's greetings to the Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, I set out from Brest, France, in the year 1773 A.D., and arrived in Macao via Siam (Thailand) in December 1775 A.D., and set foot on the mysterious land of China.

Unfortunately, when I arrived in Macau, the local parishioners told me that several princes in southern China had started an unprecedented rebellion in the year 1770 of the Jesus Era, and that the Kangxi Emperor, who had paid homage to you, had been called Yifeng. Prince Lu was captured on the battlefield and executed, and now China has fallen into great chaos, and the princes are constantly fighting for control of the Chinese land. Prince Lu has also captured the capital of the Qing Dynasty and driven the grandmother and successor of the Kangxi Emperor back to the desolate land of northeast China, and there are two emperors on the current Chinese emperor, one is the Great Zhou Emperor recognized by Prince Lu, and the other is the Qianlong Emperor who is the successor of the Kang Emperor, but these two emperors Yanjing did not gain the power position to rule China, and now the most powerful in China is Yifeng. Prince Lu.

I was confused for a while, and I didn't know what to do next. Luo told me that we should go to Yanjing to meet Prince Lu, and he was willing to go with me, because as far as Father Luo knew, the power of the Great Zhou court, which controlled the largest amount of land in China, was actually in the hands of Prince Lu, and if we went to negotiate with Prince Lu, it was equivalent to negotiating with the Great Zhou court, and as long as Prince Lu agreed, we could allow the spread of the Lord's gospel on Chinese soil and let the people of the East return to the Lord's arms.

The Dutch in Macao objected to Father Law's suggestion, and they told me that Prince Lu was a fierce infidel, an insatiable Oriental usurer, and a cruel executioner, because Prince Lu had defeated the Dutch fleet at the mouth of the Yangtze River, brutally murdered the Dutch naval commander Porter, stole the Dutch warships, cut off all trade with the Netherlands, and refused to fulfill the promise of the Kangxi Emperor to give Taiwan to the Dutch, and even issued privateer licenses to Chinese pirates. Chinese ships were allowed to rob and attack all Dutch ships encountered at sea in retaliation for their support of the Kangxi Emperor. So the Dutch believed that Prince Lou was a believer in Satan, the messenger of hell, and would send all Christians to the guillotine.

I decided to try my luck in Yanjing, because the merchants of Great Britain told me that Prince Lu was a kind and kind prince who appreciated and liked the culture of Europa very much, and was also happy to start a comprehensive trade with Europa, export the scarce opium in Europe to Europa, help Europe reduce the price of opium, and let more Europeans obtain God's gift to mankind, for this reason, Prince Lu also assured the British merchants that once he obtained the power to rule China, he would do his best to prohibit Chinese from smoking opium, All the opium produced on Chinese soil was sold to Europe, and the price of opium in Europe was lowered.

The British merchant also excitedly told me that Prince Lu could still converse and write in Britannica, although the grammar of Prince Lu's British was very strange, but it was really Britannica! My God! I was so excited, because although I was French, I also happened to know some British and could converse in Britannica, so despite the strong opposition of the Dutch, I finally boarded the sailing ship bound for Ningbo with Father Luo, and arrived in Ningbo on the 12th day of May in the year of Jesus, 1776 AD, and submitted a letter to Prince Lu's troops stationed there, requesting to go to Yanjing to meet Prince Lu.

Prince Lu's army was very friendly, and after confirming that I was not Dutch, they quickly sent my letter to Nanking, and a month later Prince Lu's army in Ningbo told me that Prince Lu had agreed to receive me, and arranged for me to go north along the great canal dug in China a thousand years ago to meet Prince Lu in Yanjing.

His Majesty, I am sure you will not believe what I saw on the way to Yanjing, in my imagination, northern China, which has just experienced war, must be full of dead bodies, plagues and broken houses, but what makes me unbelieve is that there are almost no dead bodies and plagues in the land controlled by Prince Lu, let alone the ruined castles left behind after the war, even the poorest people can exchange their jobs for life-sustaining food and currency, In many places, the squires still lived a very comfortable life.

I can even swear to God that the lives of many merchants in the city of Yangzhou, controlled by Prince Lu, are simply more comfortable than the life of King Louis XIV of my country, and the banquets are more luxurious and sumptuous than the court feasts of Louis XIV! Yangzhou, Changzhou, Suzhou, and Zhenjiang, the first cities to be occupied by Prince Lu, were also more beautiful and cleaner than Paris. I finally believed what Marco Polo said in the book, in China, a petty officer who watches the city gate lives better than a European king, and the white sugar in China is much whiter than the white sugar in our Europe.

Fr. Luo and the people of China told me that all this was brought to them by Prince Lu, who was close to the people and diligent in his administration, and friendly to the people and merchants, which made all this possible, and I also wanted to meet Prince Lu sooner and see His Royal Highness the great prince with my own eyes.

My wish was about to come true, and when I arrived in Yenching, I was first placed in the Xuanwumen Church, where Father Ferdinand Verbiest once lived, where I was warmly received by the officials of Prince Lu's domain, and I also met the parishioner Fugui, who had received Father Ferdinand Verbiest. Li, Fugui. Lee excitedly told me that the great Prince Lou had also been to this great church and had spoken for a long time with Father Ferdinand Verbiest, and he had sworn to God that he had heard Prince Lou talk to Fr. Ferdinand Verbiest in Britannica, even though Fr. Ferdinand Verbiest did not know Britannica.

I could no longer bear the pain of waiting, and immediately made a request for an audience with the officials of Prince Lu's domain, and I was quickly answered, and Prince Lu agreed to meet me at 3:20 p.m. on the day of July 26, 1776. My God! Prince Lu even understands the calendar of the age of Jesus, and he also understands the time of our Europe! I have a hunch that my meeting with Prince Lu will be the beginning of a great history!

At two o'clock in the afternoon on July 26, I arrived at the great Chinese Palace, waiting for an audience with Prince Lu, and I cannot describe the size and luxury of the Chinese Palace, but I can be sure that the Palace of Versailles is as much a thatched house as the Vatican Basilica compared to the Chinese Palace, and the Chinese Imperial Palace is very clean, the air is very fresh, unlike the Versailles, which is full of excrement and foul air.

Time passed slowly, and Father Luo and I were trembling with nervousness, for we were waiting for Prince Lu to receive him, along with monks from China's Shaolin Temple and Taoist priests from China's Longhu Mountain, whose Jin order was ahead of us, and who looked at us with hatred. Fr. Luo told me that these heretics had come to ask Prince Lu to give them titles, and they were willing to lead their followers to support Prince Lu in ruling the land of China, and they also wanted Prince Lu to make their religion the state religion, so they were not only hostile to each other, but also very hostile to us Catholics, and feared that we would gain Prince Lu's trust and appreciation and make Catholicism the state religion.

My God! It occurred to me that it would be great if Prince Lu was baptized in the church, became a believer in the Lord, and made our Catholic religion the state religion. China's population is larger than that of all European countries combined!

At 2:40, the pagan monks and Taoist priests went to see Prince Lu first, and in thirty minutes, they left the palace with happy expressions. It was my turn and Father Luo, and my heart was beating so hard that I could barely take a step behind Prince Lu's officials.

Father Luo and I were led into a sumptuous palace, where we met the great Prince Lu, of medium height, slightly fat, with very handsome features, but his eyes were a little smaller, and when he smiled, he narrowed into two slits. When Father Law and I knelt down on one knee according to the agreed protocol, Prince Lu stretched out his right hand and asked us to kiss the hand - my God! Prince Lu, he even understands our European etiquette!

When Prince Lu learned that I was from France, Prince Lu immediately asked me about the current situation of the captain of the French court musketeers, D'Addarion, although I didn't know how Prince Lu knew Marshal D'Artagion, but I was so excited that I almost fainted, and I was so surprised that I could barely speak, and then I used a lot of strength to answer Prince Lu's question calmly.

When Prince Lou learned that our Marshal of France D'Artagion had died on the battlefield of Holland four years earlier, Prince Lou was very disappointed, and then he angrily accused the Protestant Dutch of being heretics, devils who deserved to go to hell! Then Prince Lou said that in order to avenge Marshal D'Artaglion he would intensify his attack on the Dutch East India Company, and asked me to write to His Majesty King Louis XIV on his behalf, seeking an alliance to bring the Dutch pirates back to land, and not to allow a single Dutch ship to appear on the seas of Asia.

I beg your forgiveness, Your Majesty the Pope, I am your devout servant, but I am also French, so I agreed to Prince Lu's request, and Prince Lu was very pleased and invited us to take a walk with him in the imperial gardens of the Chinese Imperial Palace, and I gladly accepted Prince Lu's invitation.

In the indescribably beautiful Imperial Garden, I conversed with Prince Lou in barely fluent Britannica - to my shame, Prince Lou's English was more than ten times more proficient than me, and many of the sentences I could not understand at all, and could not understand the meaning, so we had no choice but to ask Father Law to act as an interpreter, and this ensured a smooth communication.

Prince Lu and I spoke first of all about you, His Majesty the Great Pope Clement X, and Prince Lu entrusted me with the highest respect for you, and invited His Majesty the Pope to visit China at the appropriate time, and Prince Lu would personally meet you at the port, and to build a church on Chinese soil as magnificent as the Roman church, so that His Majesty the Pope could reside in China.

Hearing these words of Prince Lu, Father Luo and I were trembling with excitement, and took the liberty to express our gratitude to Prince Lu on behalf of His Majesty the Pope, and then I tried to ask Prince Lu about his religious beliefs, and Prince Lu told me very frankly that he is now a miscellaneous believer, and he is very interested in Buddhism, Taoism and Catholicism, but he admires our Catholicism the most. Prince Lu also said that if His Majesty the Pope could come to China and give him the right to protect the Church in Asia, he could consider being baptized and becoming a true Catholic.

Oh, God! I am sure that Prince Lu's words must have come from the bottom of his heart, because his understanding of Catholicism is far higher than that of ordinary Chinese, not only knowing baptism and the right to preservation, but even knowing indulgences! Prince Lu said that if he can obtain the right to protect the religion in Asia, he will issue a large number of indulgences for the Holy See in Southeast Asia, India and the Persian Gulf, and help the Holy See solve the problem of military expenses to resist the western invasion of the Ottoman Empire!

Even, for the glory of Christ, to sweep away all obstacles in the Middle East with a sword for the Lord, Prince Lu can also organize the Eastern Crusade to launch a western expedition to defeat the infidels in the Middle East, and take charge of the land of the Middle East for His Majesty the Pope!

My God! I hope that Prince Lu's promise will be fulfilled, because I know that Prince Lu's army is already the most powerful army in China, and on the first day I met Prince Lu, another prince surnamed Geng in southern China could not resist Prince Lu's army and chose to surrender to Prince Lu. If Prince Lu's army can really enter the Middle East battlefield for the Lord, then the Ottoman Empire will never want to threaten the land of the Holy See, and all you need to pay for the great Pope is a Middle Eastern land full of deserts!

Next, Prince Lu took the initiative to talk about Great Britain again, because Prince Lu was proficient in British language, and for Prince Lu to know more about Great Britain, Prince Lu knew Newton, and also knew James II and his beautiful daughter Princess Mary, and Prince Lu also told me that he had written to Isaac three times. Mr. Newton, who invited him to China to spread European science and theology, but it is not known whether it was the Messenger or Mr. Newton's reason, Prince Lu deeply regretted this. But Prince Lu did not give up, and asked me to write to Newton on his behalf, inviting Mr. Newton to visit China once again, and promising to receive this faithful person of God with the highest courtesy, and I gladly agreed.

Of course, Prince Lou did not forget to pay tribute to King Louis XIV of France, and affectionately called His Majesty Louis XIV the Sun King, the favor of God, and admired Louis XIV's famous words - only monarchs have the right to think and make decisions, and others only have the obligation to perform!

Prince Lu also said that in his opinion, His Majesty the Pope is the same - in the land of the Lord, only His Majesty the Pope has the right to think, to make decisions, and everyone else has only the obligation to carry out! For the glory of the Lord and the sanctity of the Holy See, if Your Majesty the Pope and your successors are willing, you and your successors may at any time ask Prince Lu and Prince Lou's descendants to go to Europe to fight for the glory and sanctity of the Holy See, and Prince Lu and his descendants will provide all the help they can.

In addition, Prince Lu, as a temporary pagan who is devout to the Lord, has made a small request to His Majesty the Pope, that is, I hope that His Majesty will send a group of Catholics who are proficient in theology, mathematics, chemistry, metallurgy, forging and mechanics to China to spread the Gospel of the Lord to the tens of millions of Chinese people who have not yet believed, and to impart European scientific and technological knowledge! In return, Prince Lu will order his troops and officials to provide the best help for the spread of the gospel by providing the best diet and the cheapest opium for these servants of the Lord.

My God! I think Your Majesty the Pope will definitely accede to Prince Lu's request, tens of millions of people, more than all the European populations combined, if they can all become believers in the Lord, Your Majesty you can increase the number of devout believers by tens of millions.

Although Prince Lu was not very interested, I still talked to Prince Lu about the current war situation in China, and asked Prince Lu how much time he could spend to unify China, in order not to let Prince Lu misunderstand, I told Prince Lu frankly that I hoped that he could unify China as soon as possible and become the greatest king of China, so I asked this question. Prince Lu thanked me for his blessings, and then told me that he could not answer my question, because he still had many strong opponents, and although his strength was enough, he could not say exactly how much time it would take.

Merciful Lord, for the spread of your gospel in the mysterious lands of the East, bless the great Prince Lu, and let victory be with him forever.

When talking about Prince Lu's most disgusted enemy, the Great Qing court that had been expelled by Prince Lu to the northeast, Prince Lu's expression became angry, saying that the Qing Empress Dowager, who really controlled the Great Qing court, was an evil pagan witch with a split tongue, the devil's horns, and the tail of a trident, and was the enemy of all Chinese and all the believers of the Lord! Any Catholic country that supports this witch is a Judas who ignores the dignity of the Holy See, the devil who secretly intermarries with the Jews!

"The witch sent by the devil of the Empress Dowager Mangou, like all heretics who eat tofu and brains and put sugar, should be tied to the stake and burned!" -- These are the exact words of Prince Lu.

Our pleasant conversation with Prince Lu lasted for more than two hours, during which many Chinese officials made requests for a meeting, but Prince Lu refused, because Prince Lu believed that we should not wait for the envoy sent by His Majesty the Pope, and Father Luo and I were very moved, and repeatedly thanked Prince Lu, and took the opportunity to make a request to preach in China, and Prince Lu agreed, and gave me the Xuanwumen Church and the Nanjing Church to Father Luo, so that we could spread the Gospel of the Lord to our heart's content.

At the same time, after learning about my understanding of mathematics, Prince Lu decided to build a church school in the inner city of Yanjing, and organized the children of nobles to study European mathematics in the school.

At the end of the meeting, Prince Lu apologized to us because he had an important military meeting to take place, and his generals had been waiting for more than an hour, so he could not accompany us to dinner. Then Prince Lu smiled and offered to ask me to invite him to the Xuanwumen Church for dinner, and named him to eat our French steaks, grilled snails and crepes, I excitedly made the invitation, and Prince Lu accepted, saying that he would come to the Xuanwumen Church in the evening three days later to attend the banquet I had prepared for him, and by the way, arrange for officials to assist me in investigating the cause of Father Ferdinand Verbiest's death.

I presented a gift to Prince Lu, and His Majesty King Louis XIV presented me with an altimetry telescope, which Prince Lu liked very much, and asked me if I could make a copy, and I replied that if the materials were complete, I would definitely be able to make it, and Prince Lu immediately summoned a Chinese official named Dai Zi and asked him to assist me in making a large number of copies of such telescopes.

Prince Lu rewarded me with a blue and white porcelain vase from the Ming Dynasty of China, and if I brought it back to Europe, I would immediately become a rich man, and then Prince Lu presented you with a pair of vases that were said to be from the Tang Dynasty of China. It is printed with an image of Jesus crucified, which is indescribably precious - although Fr. Luo has never heard of Christians missionary missions to China during the Tang Dynasty, and I thank Prince Lu for his generosity on behalf of His Holiness the Pope.

Prince Lu also presented His Majesty the Pope with a box of morphine, which was refined from opium -- I heard that Prince Lu personally supervised the refining. Prince Lu also said that if the citizens of various European countries can like morphine, Prince Lu will ban all Chinese citizens from smoking opium in the future, and sell all opium and morphine to Europe at a low price, so as to help the people of the Lord get rid of the disease in exchange for European scientific instruments, academic achievements, and science and technology.

Your Majesty, Great Pope, when this letter is written, I can't contain the excitement in my heart, and in my heart, I can no longer imagine the beautiful picture after Prince Lu unified China! Your Majesty, Great Pope, I think you, like me, must have hoped that Prince Lu would unify China as soon as possible, so that the gospel of the Lord could spread freely in the mysterious land of the East, right? If so, please pray for Prince Lu in the Cathedral of Rome, and ask the Lord and Jesus to bless Prince Lu, as I have done in the church of Xuanwumen.

It was written on the night of July 26, 1676 in the era of Jesus in the Xuanwumen Church in Beijing, China.

Postscript: When the letter written by our esteemed Fr. Bai Jin was sent to Europe, although Pope Clement X had unfortunately passed away, the successor Pope Innocent XI was still so excited after reading the letter that he immediately ran to the Roman church in the Vatican to celebrate Mass, praying that our respected Prince Lu would unify China as soon as possible and let the gospel of the Lord spread freely in the mysterious land of China as soon as possible. At the same time, according to the request of Prince Lu, His Majesty the Pope organized a large number of missionaries who were proficient in Western science to rush to China to spread the gospel of the Lord, and the plan to recover the right to protect the church in East Asia from the Portuguese and give it to Prince Lu also appeared in the mind of His Majesty the Honored Pope.

At the same time, after receiving the letter from Father White, the Sun King Louis XIV was also very excited, believing that a great opportunity had arisen for him to intervene in East Asia, and he could not wait to assemble a large delegation composed of French officials, generals, court scientists and court priests, and rushed to China by ship to meet Prince Lu to discuss plans to form an alliance with Prince Lu against the sea coachmen, as well as to discuss the expansion of maritime trade and the attempt to monopolize China's foreign opium trade.

Father White was a great priest who kept his promises, and Prince Lu asked him to invite Mr. Newton to travel to China, and of course Father White did not break his promise, and when Father White's letter arrived at the Royal Academy of Sciences, Sir Newton, who had already received similar letters twice, was finally tempted to seriously consider the plan for the dissemination of theology and science in China, and tried to put it into action.

(To be continued)