chapter 19 - brothers

The next day before the sun came up, Joseph got up early out of habit. There was no internet, no games, not even electric lights in this era, and in normal homes, one couldn't afford to use candles or even oil lamps. At night it was pitch black. Joseph, who was used to going to bed after eleven o'clock in his previous life, now also had the good habit of going to bed early and getting up early. As a matter of fact, people in this era were basically like this.

　　Joseph got dressed, walked out of his room, and went to the church yard. At this time the sun had not yet risen, even the east had not yet revealed the white of the fish's belly, half a round of the remnant of the moon, there are still a few remnants of the stars are still hanging in the black velvet canopy. This time is already in the middle of December, with the later Republican calendar, it is already a snow month. Although it was not snowing in Paris at this time of year, and it was still not particularly cold, there was already a layer of white frost on the roofs and in the courtyard in the early morning.

　　A burly figure was swinging an axe in the courtyard to split wood. Joseph knew that it was Father Jean Jacques. He exercised in this way every morning.

　　"Good morning, Father!" Joseph said as he walked over.

　　"Ah, Joseph, good morning." The priest casually tossed his axe aside and stood up straight and smiled at Joseph, "Going out for a run?"

　　"Yeah, running around the church." Joseph replied, "Twenty laps and you'll be just in time for dinner."

　　"Ah, and your brother?" Father Jean-Jacques asked again.

　　"Up too, washing his face, he'll be out running with me in a few minutes. By the way, Father, we'll treat you to a nice meal at noon, and absolutely nothing will happen this time. I promise!" Joseph said with a bit of embarrassment.

　　"Yeah! No problem!" Father Jean Jacques said.

　　At that moment, Napoleon came out from the back as well, and since he wasn't as easy-going as Joseph, he just nodded with Father Jean Jacques and followed Joseph out the door.

　　The two men ran along the road next to the church. Napoleon was still short in height since he had entered the military academy, but his physical fitness had improved considerably. So first he picked up speed, trying to shake off Joseph so he could win.

　　But Joseph wasn't going to let him have his way.

　　"With your two short legs, you want to run ahead of me?" Joseph also sped up. After traveling to this era, Joseph knew that the medical level in this era was ridiculously low. Even a small cold could kill a person at any time. Therefore strengthening his physical exercise and improving his immunity became Joseph's means of preserving his life. Although Louis the Great School didn't have quite as high a requirement for physical education as military academies, Joseph had never relaxed his physical exercise. Coupled with his long hands and feet, in terms of running, he was clearly superior to Napoleon in terms of innate conditions. How could he let Napoleon, who had always been suppressed by him, run ahead of him?

　　So Joseph also accelerated the speed, just a few steps, ran to the front of Napoleon again. Napoleon then began to accelerate again ...

　　"Damn ... if you didn't have longer legs ... I'd be ... this time," Napoleon said, bending over, panting at the same time. brokenly as he did so, the rising sun coloring the white mist that poured from his mouth and nose a pale red.

　　"If you can't run, you can't run. ... What's the use of making excuses ... but ... but this victory over you... . it's a lot more difficult than before ... than before." Joseph replied with a ragged breath as well.

　　Yes, Joseph thought, he must be able to overwhelm Napoleon in as many ways as possible, not out of a sense of competitiveness or anything, but in order to be convincing enough to put the brakes on Napoleon in the future.

　　"Well, catch your breath, have you?" Joseph said, "I'll tell you something if you've caught your breath."

　　"I've been fine for a long time." Napoleon stood up straight and walked forward as he did so.

　　"I just won the grand prize for my dissertation." Joseph said with mock calmness, "The prize is six hundred francs, so we can go out for a big lunch today to celebrate."

　　"You won the prize for your thesis?" Napoleon was taken aback and stopped in his tracks.

　　"Of course, is there any problem your big brother can't solve when he steps in?" Joseph said rather smugly.

　　"What did you write?" Napoleon asked, "Why did you win the prize and not me?"

　　"Because I may have disproved one of Sir Isaac Newton's assertions."

　　"What? How is that possible?!" Napoleon stared at Joseph with wide eyes, trying to see a joking demeanor on Joseph's face. However, he noticed that Joseph's face had nothing but that disgusting smugness about it.

　　"I have discovered a phenomenon that can be used to show that the nature of light is closer to Hooker's view - that it is a wave rather than a particle." Joseph replied.

　　"So that's all it is." Napoleon said making a dismissive face, "I thought you disproved the Three Laws."

　　"The Three Laws can't be moved anytime soon." Joseph shook his head.

　　"Can't move it anytime soon?" Napoleon was taken aback again as he shook his head, "You mean you've found a loophole in the Three Laws, you just don't have the evidence to disprove it yet?"

　　"No." Joseph shook his head, "Where is there any obvious loophole in Sir Isaac Newton's Three Laws? I just don't want to believe it out of faith."

　　"Out of faith? Could it be that the Three Laws leave no room for God?"

　　"No, no." Joseph shook his head, "I just can't accept outright fatalism. That kind of argument would make me feel like life has no meaning at all."

　　"What does that have to do with fatalism?" Napoleon obviously didn't respond.

　　"Ah, O my foolish brother. You really don't have the talent to be a great scholar." Joseph said, "Based on Newton's Three Laws, we can consider the present state of the universe as an effect of its past as well as a cause of its future. If a wise man could know the forces of all natural motions and the positions of all naturally constituted objects at a given moment, and if he could also analyze this data, the motions of the largest objects to the smallest particles in the universe would all be contained in one simple formula. Nothing would be ambiguous to this wise man, and the future would only appear to him as the past. Everything is predestined, just as Oedipus, faced with that terrible prophecy, could not resist in any way, for even his resistance was but a part of the destiny. If I really believed in the Three Laws, what would be the point of my life?"

　　This statement was completely unexpected by Napoleon. He frowned and thought for half a day, then shook his head, "For the time being, I haven't found out what the problem with this statement of yours is. But there is definitely a problem with this claim. Otherwise, this conclusion is really difficult for people to ... wait! Joseph, aren't you a devout believer? Isn't God the wise man? God is all-knowing and all-powerful. Yet you can't even accept omniscience, you pseudo-believer."

　　As he spoke, Napoleon laughed harshly, seemingly triumphant at having caught his brother in the act.

　　"Those are two different things." Joseph said, "Besides, I smell a whiff of Calvin in your words, you heretic!" Joseph responded with a laugh as well.

　　Calvin was a major leader in Protestantism and a major proponent of determinism in philosophy and theology. France, on the other hand, was Catholic territory, and in the Catholic view Calvin was a heretic. Now that Napoleon was saying that God's omniscience was predestination, Joseph turned the tables on him and called him a Calvinist heretic.

　　The two men teased each other for a while and then went back to church together.

　　After breakfast, Joseph casually quizzed Napoleon on his studies and brought out his prize-winning thesis for Napoleon to study carefully before showing him the two experiments involved in it.

　　"I'm somewhat convinced of your point of view." Napoleon said, "Is there anything else wrong with this conclusion?"

　　"Of course there is." Joseph replied, "Any wave needs a medium for propagation, but there are many questions about what exactly the medium for light propagation is. For example, light is very fast, and although the exact value has yet to be measured, there is no question that it is very fast. For a wave to travel at such a fast speed, that means its propagation medium should be very strong. But we have never felt any resistance from the light ether when acting in such a hard medium. All in all, there are a lot of problems here, but I'm sure that with more research, this problem can eventually be solved, although the solution may not be in the same way as we think."

　　"Unfortunately," said Napoleon, "as much as I am interested, I have to admit that I have not the slightest idea about it, at least for the time being."

　　"O my foolish brother, you must realize that every man is gifted differently. Some people are naturally stronger in some areas, but not in others. For example, in math and other natural sciences, I don't think you'll be able to beat me, but maybe you can beat me in other areas. For example, if there's a small hole and you can drill through it, I'll more than likely not be able to."

　　Listening to Joseph's serious words in front of him, Napoleon was still a little touched in his heart. Honestly speaking, although he is pretentious, although also think that he has a very strong talent in mathematics and natural science, but Napoleon is not a person who likes to deceive himself and others, although his mouth does not admit it, but in his heart, he knows that his own talent in this area is really not as good as his older brother, and therefore many times it is also true that it is very a little bit frustrated. Now Joseph's words in front of him were really a bit warming, yet who knew that behind him he would come up with the one about drilling a dog hole, so angry that Napoleon really wanted to beat him up.

　　"Joseph, you really are no good." Napoleon said.

　　"Haha ..." Joseph fell back and laughed proudly, "Also, considering the difference in our size, when we eat meat at noon, you must not be able to eat me."