When An Ning was shocked by Napoleon's apology, Napoleon added: "But I still have to write to my father."
An Ning: "Why?"
"I just want to give it a try," Napoleon replied. "Although there are happy things in Brienne, such as reading Plutarch and chatting with you, the rest is depressing."
An Ning was stunned, he was actually ranked with Plutarch, a Greek writer from the ancient Roman era.
Plutarch wrote "The Heroes of Greece and Rome". According to various versions of Napoleon's biography, Napoleon was obsessed with this book when he was a boy.
An Ning, who was as successful as the ancient Greek writers, exclaimed: "Okay, you can give it a try."
So that night, Napoleon sent a long letter to his father.
A few weeks later a reply came from Napoleon's father, Carlo Bonaparte.
The next morning after getting the reply, An Ning met Napoleon on the way to school. The little man looked a little sad, like an eggplant beaten by frost.
Napoleon: "My father asked me to stay at Brienne because we had no money - exactly as we had predicted."
An Ning smiled: "Congratulations, you can get along with your favorite Plutarch for a while longer."
Napoleon shook his head: "I have read "The Heroes of Greece and Rome" several times, and I can even memorize some passages in it."
"Then you can try watching "Spartacus"... uh..."
An Ning suddenly remembered that the novel version of "Spartacus" was written by Italians in the 19th century and had not yet been born.
Napoleon frowned: "Spartacus? Is he the slave who rebelled? What's so good about a slave?"
An Ning replied: "He is an oppressed class like us. I am a commoner and I am laughed at by the nobles all day long. Although you are a noble registered in the Quanxu Bureau, you are despised and bullied all day long because you are poor. So we
You should feel for Spartacus's situation."
Napoleon was speechless: "Okay, then where can I see the detailed story of this slave?"
An Ning was silent. At this moment, Spartacus was still an ordinary historical figure, and Giovanni's masterpiece that portrayed him as a revolutionary in the ancient Roman era had not yet been produced.
An Ning: "You can listen to me. I heard my grandfather tell me this when I was a child."
An Ning not only read Giovanni's acclaimed novel, but also the famous director Kubrick's masterpiece, and later watched the American TV series version.
However, the American TV series version is somewhat inferior to Kubrick's work.
But it doesn't matter, now An Ning can vividly tell Napoleon about the life of Spartak.
Napoleon frowned: "It's really interesting. Your grandfather was also a tanner, so how could he know about the slave revolts in the Roman era?"
An Ning: "Many stories are passed down orally from folk to folk."
Napoleon shrugged his shoulders without delving into it.
From that day on, An Ning not only talked to Napoleon about Rousseau, Montesquieu and Voltaire, but also told him about the Spartacus Rebellion.
Only then did An Ning realize that he actually had some talent as a storyteller. In this era, he could pick up a lute and go to a tavern to work as a minstrel. In modern times, he could open a rental shop.
The days passed so uneventfully, and An Ning's life at Brienne Military Academy entered its third year.
This year, the instructors began to teach the cadets how to build fortifications and handle explosives.
In this era, there was a special branch called grenadiers, and soldiers who were tall and strong were usually chosen to serve because they had to throw bombs as heavy as small lead balls on the enemy's heads.
Because of this, grenadiers are generally not weak in close combat, and they also have to undertake ceremonial tasks from time to time.
The Brienne Military Academy didn't know which graduates would be assigned to lead grenadier units, so they simply taught everyone how to handle explosives and deliver bombs.
During the bombardment class, Napoleon was laughed at by the nobles again because he was short and could not be selected into the grenadiers.
The stubborn Napoleon threw the unlit bomb as far away as the "French trash" and strained his arm.
For the next few days, Napoleon grinned whenever he used his dominant hand, and finally had to try to hold a pen with his right hand like a normal person.
An Ning joked, "You look a lot more normal this way."
If someone else had ridiculed him like this, Napoleon would have roared at him long ago, but there was no problem with An Ning saying this, and the Corsican boy just smiled.
There was another change in the third year. Brienne Military Academy divided the school's large garden into pieces and assigned them to the cadets to take care of.
An Ning asked the instructor in charge what qualities this was intended to cultivate in the students.
As a result, the instructor in charge replied: The school wanted to save money on hiring gardening workers, so it was left to the students to take care of it.
The instructor in charge will rate everyone's gardens every week, and those who don't take care of it seriously will be put in solitary confinement.
An Ning didn't really want to do gardening work, so she wanted to leave the work to Fanny. As a result, Fanny was caught by the principal on the first day she came to school to take care of the garden.
So An Ning received a good lesson.
Later, Napoleon said that An Ning didn't want to do gardening work, so he left it to him. It happened that the area An Ning was assigned was right next to Napoleon's area.
So from then on, Napoleon could be seen taking care of the garden from time to time in the school garden, and he would read in the garden after finishing his work.
Anyone who wants to approach this small world will be driven away by Napoleon brandishing a hoe.
Another year passed, and the fourteen-year-old Napoleon had caught up with everyone else's height - although he still looked a little short, everyone gradually stopped using the term "dwarf" as a pejorative.
At noon on a holiday, Napoleon suddenly found peace: "Hey, Andy, are you free at noon?"
An Ning: "What, you want to hear a story again?"
Recently, An Ning began to tell Napoleon "The Heroes of the Sui and Tang Dynasties" and "The Seven Heroes and the Five Righteousnesses". The oriental stories fascinated the Corsican boy.
"No, it was my brother Joseph. He wrote to me and told me that after graduating from the seminary, he does not plan to become a priest, but to join the army."
An Ning said "Oh". He remembered that this matter was also recorded in the biography of Napoleon. At that time, Napoleon wrote a letter approving Joseph.
So An Ning was confident: "What do you think? What kind of person is your brother Joseph?"
Napoleon curled his lips: "He is a light-headed guy. He can become a good garrison officer. I mean, that kind of airy army is useless. He is handsome and humorous. He can be at ease in social situations and say something frivolous.
It's a joke, but he will never go to the battlefield."
An Ning nodded: "There is no room for lightheaded guys on the battlefield."
"In addition, he can get a generous salary as a priest. We need this salary now. You know, Andy, my family is very poor. We only rely on my father's small salary from managing the Wang family nursery to support the five of us.
"It's time for my two younger brothers to go to school, and my sister Polina also needs an education. The king only allows me and Joseph to go to school for free. My younger brothers and sisters all need money to go to school."
An Ning: "Your sister Paulina can come to Briena Military Academy... just like those eldest ladies from noble families who have no money."
Napoleon glanced at An Ning dissatisfied: "What are you talking about? I hope my sister can live like a normal girl."
An Ning: "But your family can't afford Paulina's dowry."
Napoleon was silent. He took a breath and glared at An Ning: "Sometimes Andy, you are quite annoying."
"I'm just stating the facts." An Ning shrugged. With the current relationship between him and Napoleon, it's okay to be a little annoying occasionally.
Napoleon shook his head: "Back to Joseph, for the sake of his brothers and sisters, he should also become a priest, but now he tells me that he wants to become an officer. The salary of an officer is not as generous as that of a priest!"
An Ning: "Priest is the first level after all."
"That's right! I can't imagine Joseph being an officer. What branch of arms can he go to? Artillery? However, artillery needs to be proficient in mathematics, and my brother is a fool and doesn't understand mathematics at all. As for the Navy, my flowery brother
, can you endure the monotonous sailing life? No, you can’t!”
An Ning smiled and said: "Look, you have already made your own judgment. You don't need my advice at all."
Napoleon was silent for a few seconds, then took a deep breath: "Yes, I have made a decision. I think I just need an audience, and you are a good listener Andy."
An Ning: "Of course. If you have any worries in the future, you can come to me and talk to me."
After saying this, An Ning could already imagine Napoleon, who was already the emperor of France in the future, coming to find her angrily, pounding the table and complaining "Why are things in Spain always so bad?"