Chapter 24: The New Teacher

After this experiment, the days became full and boring again. There was basically only one thing left for Joseph to do every day, and that was to study the mathematics of this era. This was in order to avoid bringing out contraptions that were beyond the era if he was not careful because of his insufficient understanding of the math of this era, and secondly, it was also to make some preparations for his future teaching work.

　　In such busyness, winter slowly passed. The winter that had just passed was a cold and arid one, and not a single snowfall had fallen in the whole winter. This was not good news for France, for it meant that in the coming year, French agriculture might once again face the problem of a poor harvest. Britain across the channel had the same problem, but because of the loss of North America and India in the Seven Years' War, the French couldn't rely on supplies from their colonies like Britain could, so an agricultural failure obviously posed a greater danger to them than a failure would to the British.

　　Joseph wasn't too concerned about this, though, because even if there was a spike in food prices or something like that, it wasn't as if the teachers at the Officers' School in Paris would go hungry. To say that their family still has some fields in Corsica, there basically won't be any drought over there in the Mediterranean Sea, so they should still be able to produce something, and if they can ship it over, they might even be able to make a small profit. However, from Corsica to Paris, whether by land or by sea, you have to pay a whole lot of taxes. It was already good enough not to lose money if you really paid these honestly.

　　"Unless we have a way to smuggle food with warships in the future, otherwise, the money is not that good. But for now, to it's still too late to stock up on a little something in advance. Hmm, as I recall, that old Grandson in Balzac's writing made his fortune by hoarding." Joseph thought this way.

　　However, this was just thinking about it, because, the money in Joseph's hand was too little, part of it, had to be sent home, and the rest was just enough, even if he wanted to go and play hoarding, he didn't have the money to do so.

　　"Besides, speculation is risky. Even if you know the general history, the specifics, it's still risky. And I'm still a little bit short on risk tolerance. So, there's really nothing to do at the moment but wait quietly for a dead paycheck."

　　This is exactly the sorrow of the poor, for the rich, a speculative failure, even if the loss of a small goal, but also just pay a tuition fee. But for the poor, a speculative failure, bring the result may need a family intact to go ... according to Christian doctrine, suicide is not suicide, this life can not commit suicide, so either have to find a way to sneak into the Americas, or India to go. Either they will be caught by their creditors or something like that, and then they will be forced to engage in all sorts of ancient and illegitimate business to pay off their debts.

　　In short, in economic activity, the poor always had to take more risks than the rich, because they had no capital and only one life. And Joseph, on the other hand, was actually, on the whole, a very fearful man.

　　"Anyway, there are still a few years before the Revolution, there's still time to build up slowly." Joseph thought like this.

　　Once winter passed, there was only one last semester left in Joseph's middle school career. In fact, there were basically no more subjects that needed to be taught in this last semester. Those who were ready to continue on to college were enrolled in the pre-college program at the Louis the Great School. Those who were not prepared to continue their studies were all running around Paris looking for work. Only Joseph, who did not intend to go to university and did not need to find a job, continued to come to school every day and read books in the library.

　　But he couldn't stay for more than a few days. Because the graduation exam was actually taken in the winter. So it wasn't long before Joseph received his diploma from the Louis the Great School. Then, he could report to the Paris Officer's School.

　　"Mr. Bonaparte. Although I already knew that you were young from Mr. Monge and Mr. Laplace, I still didn't expect that you would be so young. However, since you have received the joint recommendation of Monsieur Monge and Monsieur Laplace, there is certainly no problem with your level-especially Monsieur Monge, who believes that your future achievements will be far above his. You may not necessarily be aware that we are in extraordinarily great need today of teachers who can teach pictorial geometry." The principal, Count Dupont, said this to Joseph when he reported for duty.

　　"Thank you for your trust." Joseph nodded.

　　"Young man, strictly speaking, I'm not trusting you. I just trust Mr. Monge a lot. Although this man is a bit of a deadbeat, he is indeed a very reliable person. In the beginning, I wanted to get him over from the King's Military Engineering Academy. But he is a dead head ... and he doesn't like some of the students of the Paris Officers' School ... Well, perhaps I should also remind you that our school is not quite the same as the King's Military Engineering School, and a lot of the students we have here are of great aristocratic origin, and a number of them, who have come here to study, are not the same as the students of the King's Military Engineering School. Among them, there are quite a few that come here to study simply because of family tradition ... Well, Mr. Bonaparte, do you understand what I mean?"

　　Of course Joseph understood what Count Dupont meant, his brother Napoleon had mentioned more than once that the Paris Officers' School had the best teachers but the worst classmates. Those students from the aristocracy came here solely for the purpose of gilding the lily, and then they could go on to become officers in the army, followed by a quick promotion by virtue of their rank in the gate, either to become generals or to leave the army to become some other kind of officer. The importance of all that military knowledge imparted in school is rather low for the life goals that these students are trying to achieve. To paraphrase the logical way of expressing it, learning to be good at it is neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition. That being the case, the actual level of these people can be imagined. But these people happen to have deep backgrounds, and you can't help but give them a good grade. And math is one of those subjects that's so hard that if you don't know it, you really don't know it, and you can't even make stuff up if you want to. To give high grades to a bunch of guys who can't do anything is a bit ... Joseph reckons that I'm afraid that's a big part of the reason why Monge wouldn't leave the School of Military Engineering and transfer to the Paris Officer's School.

　　"I understand." Joseph said.

　　"Well, that's good." Count Dupont nodded, but he then added, "However, Mr. Bonaparte, for those aristocratic students, they can't be too indulgent, they still have to work hard to let them learn a little bit more or less, otherwise ... it's not too good for the school's reputation."

　　Joseph also understands the meaning of Count Dupont's words, that is, no matter what, we must also let these noble students learn a little bit more within the scope as much as possible, and can't teach them all to become idiots who don't know anything. Otherwise it would greatly damage the school's reputation.

　　"I'll reinforce the teaching of conceptual things." Joseph replied.

　　The so-called reinforcing conceptual stuff was actually reducing as much as possible the stuff in math that required quantitative analysis, and just letting those students understand a concept. These guys didn't really have to go to war anyway, it was enough for them to be able to babble in the salon like Minke. And even if they did go to war, the quantitative analysis was something that was done by those staff officers who weren't of noble birth.

　　"Besides, the Revolution isn't far off, and most of these great nobles, most of them can't escape the fate of hanging streetlights, and I don't need to rely on them for the final Imperial War. I just need to get my money in peace nowadays, and it would be even better if I could make use of these guys who are destined to fly in the wind on streetlight poles and make a small fortune." Joseph thought darkly.

　　"Very well." Seeing that Joseph understands things like this, Count Dupont is also satisfied, "We have already prepared dormitories and offices for you, in addition, you can advance a month's salary with us first, and you also have two sets of uniforms every year ... All these things, in a while you can go to Marcel in the logistics office , he will help you to arrange it."

　　"Thank you for your care." Joseph responded.

　　Coming out of the principal's place, Joseph then went back to Mr. Marcel, who was in charge of logistics, and spent an afternoon getting himself settled. Then he spent another evening preparing for the class, just waiting to go and teach those students in a few days.

　　...

　　Napoleon sat in the front row - he was too short to sit back and be seen. This semester's class schedule included an additional subject, "Geometry for Warlords". Napoleon knew that there was some secret knowledge in this course of study, and all students who took this course of study had to take an oath to keep it secret, and the school also told them that if they spread the knowledge they learned in this course of study, they would be court-martialed for treason.

　　Many of his aristocratic classmates did not take this well, but this restriction was of particular interest to Napoleon. Napoleon had always been very interested in geometry and got good grades. Coupled with the fact that geometry was extremely important for artillery, he naturally took this very seriously. So he came to class early. After a while, until class was about to start, those of his classmates slowly wandered into the classroom, each looking for a place to sit. The classroom was suddenly bustling with activity, just like a food market.

　　At this time, the bell for class rang. Everyone quieted down, after all, this is a new class, the teacher who teaches academics in the end is a kind of person, everyone is still not too clear, so for the time being, they do not dare to be too unrestrained.

　　The bell for class had just fallen, and a young man wearing a brand new military uniform came up to the podium with great strides. He placed his handout on the podium, then looked around at the students below, then spoke, "I am your military geometry teacher Joseph ..."