Fox of France

　　　　 This summer, Napoleon successfully passed the graduation examination and graduated from the Military Academy as he wished. He was transferred to the Raphael Army and received the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Artillery. On the day Napoleon left Paris, Joseph went to the coach station to see him off. Napoleon wore a new gray-blue military uniform with a sword hanging from his waist. He looked extraordinarily energetic. If it weren't a little shorter, he looked a bit majestic.

　　 "It looks like an officer." Joseph stretched out his hand and patted Napoleon's shoulder, "Go ahead and become a general early."

　　 "What can a French general do?" Napoleon whispered.

　　 "Don't say this in front of other people." Joseph said, "Work hard in the army and develop your real skills. You can use it for whatever you do in the future."

　　 sent Napoleon away and returned to school. Joseph just sat down at his desk, and before he could make himself a cup of coffee, he saw Will, the principal’s secretary, come in.

　　 "Mr. Bonaparte, the principal has something to do with you." Will said.

　　 Joseph quickly stood up, and followed Will to the two-story building exclusively occupied by the principal.

　　 "Will, what can the principal want me to do?" Joseph asked as he walked along the path beside the flower bed to the small building.

　　 "It seems that there is some engineering matter on the above. I am not very clear about the specifics. You will know when you meet the principal after a while." Will replied.

The two of them walked into the small building of Count DuPont. A waiter wearing a wig opened the door for them, and took the hat handed over by Joseph and said: "Mr. Bonaparte, the count is in the office upstairs. Waiting for you. Please follow me."

　　 Joseph followed the waiter, went up to the second floor, and entered the office of Count DuPont. The waiter retreated.

　　 "Ah, Mr. Bonaparte, you are here." Count DuPont said.

　　 "Principal, you have something to do with me?" Joseph asked.

　　 "Yes, some engineering matters. Hmm... Have you ever been to Calais, the one that specializes in lace?" Count DuPont asked suddenly.

　　 "No," Joseph replied.

"Oh, in the cities of other provinces, Calais is pretty good. It's nice to take one or a few lovers on vacation. But this time I mentioned Calais not for this, but because of a military Fang’s mission. Are you willing to go?" DuPont Count smiled.

　　 "I am willing to serve the country." Joseph hurriedly said, "I don't know what it is?"

"Nothing. The fort in Port Calais is too old to be used. So a new fort to defend the port needs to be built. The new fort requires a math consultant. This matter should have been arranged for Mr. Monge. It's just that Mr. Monge has something else to do, so he recommended you. Joseph—Is it okay for me to call you that way?"

　　 "Of course there is no problem." Joseph hurriedly said.

"Well, Joseph." DuPont said, "The school's salary is actually very limited. You don't die from starvation, but it is not easy to live a good life by relying on it. And performing such tasks is tiring, but income But it’s very good. You can save a small amount of money for a few such tasks. Look at Monge, his salary is actually higher than yours, but relying on such things, his income is at least yours Six or seven times."

　　 Joseph knew that Monge recommended this to him, although it was because he was too busy with his own business, but the meaning of taking care of himself was obvious. Then thankfully said: "Thank you, principal."

"Thank me for what? You should thank Mr. Monge more." DuPont Count laughed. "Of course, Monge is a bit old-fashioned. If you want to give him a gift, he might think you are insulting his personality..." Speaking of this, Earl DuPont shook his head again, "You have to thank him, and it is best to send him a created article. Well, you are going to be a math consultant this time, whether it is me or Monge, I hope You can take this opportunity to go further academically. Well, although things over there are not too urgent, but if you have nothing else, you can arrange your work at hand and report to Calais as soon as possible. ."

　　Joseph knew that this sentence was basically the same as sending the guests off in China, so he again thanked Earl DuPont, and then retired. Now the semester is about to end, and he has basically nothing on hand. So after a bit of processing, three days later, he took the letter of introduction issued by the Earl of DuPont, boarded the coach, and went to Calais.

　　 In later generations, there will be a Eurostar high-speed rail link between Paris and Calais. It takes not even an hour to go from Paris to Calais. But in this day and age, there is no such good thing. It took two full days before Joseph came to Calais just before sunset.

　　 Because it was very late, Joseph did not go directly to the naval camp in the port of Calais. At this time, most of the Navy will not receive him. So he directly found a very ordinary hotel near the port and stayed in. After fighting with the bugs all night, he left the hotel at dawn the next day and made up his mind to never stay in this cheap hotel again. .

　　 Along the stone-paved street, Joseph walked towards the port.

　　 The port of Calais is divided into two parts. One side is a noisy civilian wharf. There are many flute-shaped boats and other ships docked by several trestle bridges. Although it was still early, we could already see sailors scrubbing the deck. On the other side, is the military dock of the French Navy. The scale of the military pier in Port Calais is much smaller than that of the civilian pier. There is only one trestle bridge. On the side of the trestle bridge, only a single-deck frigate and a patrol ship with only two masts are parked. The main force of the French navy has always been in the direction of the Mediterranean, and the port of Calais is too close to the United Kingdom-standing high on the shore and looking to the west, if the weather is good, you can even directly see the white stretches on both sides of the port of Dover opposite. Cliff. Calais is only more than 30 kilometers away from the British naval port of Dover. The French navy may feel that if the main force is arranged here, it will always make people worry that one day, the British navy will be directly blocked in the port. So they never put their main force here. Perhaps based on the same considerations, the British never deployed their main fleet at Dover.

　　 Joseph walked in the direction of the military dock. He walked to the gate where the horse was being rejected.

　　 "Stop, military restricted area, no close!" A red-nosed sentry yelled at him, and then walked towards Joseph with a bayonet flintlock.

　　 "I am Joseph Bonaparte, a mathematics teacher at the Paris Military Academy. I was ordered to report to Commander Villefort." Joseph said, taking out a letter of introduction and handing it over.

　　 The sentry handed the gun to his left hand, took the letter of introduction with his right hand, glanced at the cover, then raised his head to look at Joseph, and said: "Sir, please wait here for a moment."

　　 After saying this, he turned around with the letter of introduction and walked into the door. After giving a few words to the other sentry, he took the letter and walked towards a small building over there.

　　 Joseph stood outside the gate and waited. After a while, he saw the sentinel approaching with a captain.

　　 The captain said to Joseph: "Mr. Bonaparte, I am Captain Cisse. Commander Villefort is not in the harbor now. Instead, he is in the fortress on the mountain over there. I can send someone to take you there."

　　 "Then I will bother you." Joseph replied.

　　 "Can you ride a horse?" Captain Cisse asked again.

　　 "A little bit," Joseph replied.

　　 "That's good." Cisse said. He turned his head and said to the sentinel: "Pierre, go and bring us two horses."

　　 The sentry agreed and left, and Cisse chatted with Joseph.

　　 "Now there is such a young math teacher in the Paris Military Academy?" Cisse said.

　　 "Mr. Monge was very young when he first emerged," Joseph replied.

　　 "Ah, yes, all geniuses are like this." Cisse said, "Well, let me see your name. Are your ancestors Italian?"

　　 "I'm a Corsican," Joseph replied, "I'm half Italian."

"My grandfather's generation is still Italian. However, our family has been in France for three generations. Well, I don't know how to speak Italian anymore." Cisse said, "I heard Corsican dialect and Italian very close?"

　　 "It is indeed very close to ~www.readwn.com~ Even in a sense, the Corsican dialect should be regarded as a dialect of Italian..."

　　 The two are talking, and the sentry Pierre has brought two horses over.

　　 These are two ordinary military horses. The navy only needs horses for commuting and pulling, not horses for charging.

　　 Cisse handed the reins of one of the gray-and-white mares to Joseph and said, "Mr. Bonaparte, you follow me and I will slow down."

　　 Joseph thanked him, then took the rein and turned on his horse. Cisse stood aside, seemingly ready to help Joseph if necessary. He nodded when he saw Joseph got on the horse neatly, and turned on another horse, then urged the horse to go ahead.

　　The fortress is actually not far from the military port. In fact, the fortress is on a small high ground tens of meters high next to the port. The two men drove the horses for a trot within a few minutes, and they approached the fortress.

　　 Dismounted before the fortress’s refusal, Cisse said a few words to the sentry in front of the fortress, then handed the two horses to the sentry, and then took Joseph into the fortress.

"The sentry recognizes Cisse for sure. But just because he recognizes him, he doesn't even ask, so he takes another person into the fortress. The French navy's discipline is enforced... No wonder he will be beaten by the British. "Joseph couldn't help thinking.

　　 Cisse led Joseph along a stone road, around the front cannon, and then around a maple forest, a white two-story building appeared in front of them.

　　 "This is the headquarters of the fortress, Commander Villefort is here." Cisse said to Joseph. Then he walked over with Joseph.