After this experiment, the days became full and boring again. There's basically only one thing left for Joseph to do every day: study the math of the age. This is to avoid bringing out contraptions that are beyond their time because of a lack of understanding of the math of this era and to make some preparations for future teaching.
With such a busy schedule, winter slowly passes. The winter just past was cold and dry, with no snowfall in the entire winter. This is not good news for France, as the country's agriculture could again face a crop failure in the upcoming year. 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 were not able to rely on supplies from their colonies as Britain had done, so agricultural failures clearly posed a greater danger to them than the failures did to the British.
Joseph wasn't too concerned about it, though, because even if there was a spike in food prices or something like that, the teachers at the École Militaire weren't going to go hungry. It should be said that their family still had some fields in Corsica, and there would basically be no drought over there in the Mediterranean, so they should still be able to produce something. If they could ship it over, they might even be able to make a small profit. However, getting from Corsica to Paris, either by land or sea, involves many taxes. It's really good to pay these honestly and not lose money.
'Unless we have a way to smuggle food in warships in the future, the money is not that good. But for now, to it's still time to stock up on a little something ahead of time. Well, as I recall, that old Grandet in Balzac made his fortune by hoarding.' Joseph thought so.
However, it was just a thought because Joseph had so little money in his hands, part of which he had to send home, and the rest was just enough to play hoarder; even if he wanted to go and play hoarder, he didn't have the money to do it.
'And, speculation is risky. Even if one knows the general history and the specifics, there is still risk. And I'm still a little short on risk tolerance. So there's really nothing to do at the moment but wait for dead wages.'
This is exactly the sadness of the poor; for the rich, a speculative failure, even the loss of a small target, is nothing more than a tuition fee. But for the poor, a speculative failure that brings results may require the family to go ... completely intact, and according to Christian doctrine, suicide is not allowed, not in this life, so they have to find a way to sneak into the Americas or India. Either that or they get caught by creditors and are forced to go into ancient and illegitimate businesses to pay off their debts.
In short, in economic activities, the poor always have to take more risks than the rich because they have no capital and only one life. And Joseph, on the other hand, is actually, on the whole, a very cowardly person.
'Anyway, there are still a few years before the Revolution, so there's still time to build up slowly.' Joseph thought so.
Once winter was over, Joseph was left with the last semester of his high school career. In fact, this last semester, there are basically no subjects that need to be taught anymore. Those who are ready to go on to college are enrolled in the pre-college program at the Louis-le-Grand. Those who weren't going to continue their studies were all running around Paris looking for work at this time. Only the likes of Joseph, who also doesn't plan to go to college and doesn't have to find a job, continue to come to school every day and dip into the library to read.
He won't be able to stay for more than a few days because the graduation exam was taken in the winter. So it wasn't long before Joseph received his degree from the Louis-le-Grand. Then, he could report for duty at the École Militaire in Paris.
"Mr. Bonaparte. Although I already knew from Mr. Monge and Mr. Laplace that you were young, I still didn't expect that you would be so young. But since you have the joint recommendation of Monsieur Monge and Monsieur Laplace, there must be no question of your level - especially Monsieur Monge, who thinks that your future achievements will be far above his. You may not necessarily realize that we are in extraordinarily great need today of teachers who can teach descriptive geometry." At the time of reporting for duty, the principal, Count Du Pont, said this to Joseph.
"Thank you for your trust." Joseph nodded.
"Young man, I don't technically trust you. I just trust Mr. Monge a lot. Although the man is a bit of a deadbeat, he is indeed a very reliable person. At first, I was trying to get him from the École Royale du Génie. But he's a deadbeat ... and he doesn't like some of the students at the Paris École Militaire very much ... well, perhaps I should also remind you that our school is not quite the same as the École Royale du Génie, many of our students here are from great nobility, and a number of them, come here to study simply because of family tradition ... Well, Mr. Bonaparte, do you understand what I mean?"
Joseph understood what Count Du Pont meant; his brother Napoleon had mentioned more than once that the Paris École Militaire had the best teachers but the worst classmates. Those students of noble birth came here solely for the purpose of having their names plated so that they could then go and become officers in the army. Then, they could quickly rise through the ranks by virtue of their rank, either becoming generals or leaving the army to become some other kind of officer. The importance of all that military knowledge imparted in school is quite low for the life goals these students are trying to achieve. To paraphrase the logical formulation: learning to be good is neither sufficient nor necessary. That being the case, the actual level of these people is naturally conceivable. But all these people are going back. They're deep in the background, and there's no way they're not going to get a good grade. Math is another subject that is so hard, and if one doesn't know it, they just really don't know it, and they can't even make up a few words if they want to. To give high marks to a bunch of guys who can't do anything is a bit ... Joseph reckons that this is probably a big part of the reason why Monge refused to leave the École Royale du Génie and transfer to the Paris École Militaire.
"I understand." Joseph said.
"Well, that's good." Count Du Pont nodded, but he then added, "But Mr. Bonaparte, for those noble students, they can not be too indulgent, or we must work hard to let them learn more or less, or ... it is not too good for the school's reputation."
Joseph also understood the meaning of Count Du Pont's words. No matter what, it was necessary to let these noble students learn as much as possible within the scope and not to teach them all to be idiots who didn't know anything. Otherwise, it would have greatly tarnished the reputation of the school.
"I'll reinforce the conceptual stuff I'm teaching." Joseph replied.
Reinforcing the conceptual stuff means minimizing math contraptions requiring quantitative analysis and getting those students to understand a concept. These guys don't really have to go to war anyway. It's enough for them to be able to bullshit in the saloon as much as crank does. And even if they did go to war, there were staff officers who were not of noble birth to do the quantitative analysis.
'Besides, the Revolution isn't far off, and most of these great nobles, who can't escape hanging up their street lamps, won't need to be relied upon for the final imperial war. All I need nowadays is to get my money in peace, and it would be nice to get a little richer by utilizing these guys who are destined to wind up on streetlight poles.' Joseph thought darkly.
"Very good." 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 take an advance of one 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.
From the principal, Joseph then returned to Mr. Marcel, who was in charge of logistics and spent the afternoon settling himself. He then spent another night preparing for the class and was just waiting to go and teach those students in a couple of days.
...
Napoleon sat in the front row - he was short and couldn't be seen sitting in the back. This semester's class schedule includes an additional course, "Geometry for Military Officers." Napoleon knew that there was knowledge in the course that had to be kept secret, and all students taking the course had first to take an oath to keep it secret. The school also told them that if they spread what they learned in the course, they would be court-martialed for treason.
Many of my aristocratic classmates were not impressed, but this restriction was of particular interest to Napoleon. Napoleon had always been interested in geometry and got very good grades. Add to this the fact that geometry is extremely important for artillery, and he naturally took this very seriously. So he came to class early. After a while, until it was almost time for class to begin, those of his classmates slowly wandered into the classroom, each looking for a place to sit. So the classroom was buzzing with chaos, like a food market.
That's when the bell rang for class. Everyone quieted down. After all, this was a new class, and they were not quite sure what kind of person the teacher teaching the academics was, so they did not dare to be too unrestrained for the time being.
As soon as the bell for class had rung, a young man in a brand-new military uniform strutted up to the podium. He placed the handout on the podium and then looked around at the students below before speaking, "I am your teacher of military geometry, Joseph ..."