Georgiana remembered that she had only embarked on this "journey" after seeing the visions in Nicolas Flamel's crystal ball and learning that all of Europe would soon be plunged into turmoil.
Now, as she looked at the book in her hands, "Nick" was likewise facing the coming chaos...
"Don't want to keep reading?" Bonaparte asked.
She did not answer.
"Is that question so hard to answer?"
"You're not busy this afternoon?"
He fell silent in thought.
Georgiana poured two glasses of wine, handed one to Bonaparte, then sat by the table and took a sip from her own.
"I have something to tell you," she said after hesitating for a long while.
"About what?" he asked stiffly.
The words reached her lips, but she no longer knew whether she should tell him about Cassandra's prophecy.
In fourteen years, a great disaster might descend.
"I told you before that when I wanted advice from others, I would listen," Bonaparte said, taking out his snuffbox. "Now, keep reading."
"Doesn't it bore you?" she asked.
"Compared with what I just saw at the shipyard?" He smiled teasingly. "I'll treat it as a play."
"This play is not pleasant in the slightest."
"Tragedy is the classroom of great men."
So she set down her wineglass, treating it as an intermission, and continued reading.
Qing dynasty soldiers all had a character embroidered on the chest of their uniforms: bing, yong, ding, or zu.
"Bing" referred to the standing army. They were divided into the Eight Banners and the Green Standard Army, while the Eight Banners themselves were divided into the Han Eight Banners and the Manchu Eight Banners. The soldiers commanded by provincial commanders were mainly from the Green Standard Army.
"Yong" referred to troops recruited from local villages when the Eight Banners were insufficient.