Nitroglycerin had been invented in 1846 by the Italian chemist Sobrer, in the original timeline. But the materials needed to make it, such as glycerin, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid, already existed. At this point in time, producing nitroglycerin was no longer particularly difficult from a technical standpoint. In fact, making it was quite simple: all you had to do was keep the temperature low throughout the entire process.
But in the original timeline, people had paid an enormous price—even a bloody one—to learn that one precaution. Mr. Lu Xun once lamented, "The history of humanity's bloody advance is just like the formation of coal: it took a vast amount of timber at first, only to produce a tiny lump in the end." The history of technological progress was much the same. Many techniques that had cost people dearly to master turned out, once explained, to be quite simple.
Joseph certainly didn't want Lavoisier to be blown to pieces by nitroglycerin, so in his letter to Lavoisier, he had explicitly stressed the importance of controlling the temperature. Drawing on the theory of molecular motion, Joseph believed that more vigorous molecular movement would make the reaction more violent, increasing the danger. So keeping the temperature low throughout might slow the reaction, but it would greatly improve safety.
Even with that crucial advice, however, making it through without a single mishap would still be difficult. Just two days later, the first explosion occurred during Lavoisier's work on the Duke of Orleans's estate. One assistant failed to follow the procedures to the letter and poured in the acid too quickly, causing a serious accident that left one dead and five injured. They had produced relatively little nitroglycerin, or the other five might well have lost their lives too.
The explosion badly shook Lavoisier. He had been there at the time, but had stepped away for a moment to get a drink because he was thirsty—and that was when it happened. Of course, if he had stayed, it was hard to say whether the assistant would still have ignored the rules. The Duke of Phillips, by contrast, remained remarkably calm. In fact, the explosion only made him more interested in the substance. Having seen its power with his own eyes, he immediately realized that it had a bright future. As for the casualties during the research, well, they had sacrificed themselves for the advancement of science, so at least their deaths had meant something. Everyone had to die someday, but not all deaths meant the same thing. To die for the advancement of science, as they had, was to die with a weight greater than the Alps. And as for whether people might be killed in production someday, well, industrial accidents were impossible to prevent entirely. People got run over by carriages just walking down the street. Besides, even if those workers died, they would have died building France, so what was the problem? At any rate, as long as the dead weren't His Grace the Duke, it was all right—just as His Grace would never be run over by a carriage while out on the street.
While explosions rang out now and then from the Duke of Phillips's estate, Joseph finished his business in Calais and returned to Paris. His younger brother Napoleon arrived in Paris too, bringing their younger brother Louis with him.
"I took leave from the army and went back to Corsica. I brought Louis here for you. Do you have any water? I'm dying of thirst." The moment he saw Joseph, Napoleon shouted this at him.
"The water's over there. Pour yourself a glass," Joseph said. Then he walked over to Louis and said, "Well, Louis, you've grown a little. You're taller than Napoleon now, haha. Napoleon, at this rate, you'll be the shortest in our family, girls included."
Napoleon hated people joking about his height, but he knew that the more upset he acted, the more pleased the detestable Joseph might become. So he simply ignored him, poured himself a glass of water, and gulped it down.
"How's everything at home?" Joseph asked.
"Not good," Napoleon said.
"Nothing's wrong. It's just the same as always," Louis said.
"Being just the same as always is the worst kind of bad," Napoleon replied.
"What's wrong? You've seen the world and now you're dissatisfied with Corsica? You've started looking down on it?" Joseph asked, settling into a chair by the table and slowly crossing his legs.
"How could I look down on Corsica?" Napoleon said, sounding rather displeased. "It's just that Corsica is terribly stagnant. In France, in Paris, you can always feel things changing: new ideas, new sciences, new opportunities. Every day, things change and move forward. But Corsica? Today is no different from yesterday, and yesterday was no different from the day before. I talk to people, and what they think about is no different from what people thought ten years ago, or even a hundred or two hundred years ago. Even the patriots are the same. All they think about is winning independence, then shutting the doors and carrying on as people did centuries ago. That's no good. Corsica shouldn't be like this."
"Then what do you think Corsica should be like? Napoleon, if I remember right, you used to think the same way yourself," Joseph said, watching him with a mocking smile.
"That just proves I've made progress and outgrown the others," Napoleon replied. "As for what Corsica should be like, I think the Corsica of the future should be a land of liberty, equality, justice, and the rule of law, just as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu described."
"Napoleon, you really have made progress!" Joseph laughed. "So what do you plan to do?"
"While I was back home, I kept thinking about this. First of all, I don't think Corsica's most fundamental problem is French occupation. It's that the people haven't awakened. If we want to truly change Corsica, we must first educate our people and awaken them."
"What?" Joseph was taken aback. He stared at his younger brother, eyes wide. Has the fellow gone mad? Is the butterfly effect from our coming through time going to keep him from becoming a great general, and turn him into a Lu Xun who wants to awaken the masses instead?
Joseph hesitated before asking, "Napoleon, what exactly are you planning?"
"I plan to write a history of Corsica, like the Commentarii de Bello Gallico," Napoleon replied.
Joseph breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Napoleon was still Napoleon. The Commentarii de Bello Gallico had been written by Caesar, the great Roman emperor. That showed that Napoleon still looked up to a politician and military commander like Caesar. Writing a history of Corsica was merely a means to achieve his political aims.
"I'm not too optimistic about your plan," Joseph said, shaking his head. "You know that the illiteracy rate in Corsica is higher than in France or Italy. Very few people can read."
Napoleon opened his mouth to argue, but Joseph didn't give him the chance. Instead, he continued, "Napoleon, don't rush to argue. I know what you want to say. You want to say that although few people in Corsica can read, once they recognize the problem and learn about the new, correct ideas from beyond the island, they won't just change themselves—they'll be able to influence others too, because those people are already the leaders of Corsican society. That's what you think, isn't it?"
Napoleon stared at Joseph for a while before replying, "Yes, that's what I think. What's wrong with that?" Judging by Joseph's usual habit when dealing with him, he expected his brother to launch straight into some biting mockery, so he answered with obvious reluctance.
As it turned out, his prediction was right on the mark. Joseph immediately said, "Oh, my foolish brother, you're so young and so naive! You actually believe you can persuade people with reason! That's hilarious."
At that, Joseph suddenly leaned forward, bringing his face close to Napoleon's. Staring into his eyes, he said, "My brother, remember this: what drives most people's actions has never been their heads, but their backsides! The point isn't what's right or moral. It's what benefits them, and where their backsides are planted! Do you understand?"
After saying this, he straightened up again. "Think about it. What impact would a 'land of liberty, equality, justice, and the rule of law' have on the people you'll need by your side to make anything happen? Would it benefit them or harm them? Forget morality and ideals. Imagine them all as the kind of people Machiavelli described, then ask yourself: would they support a 'land of liberty, equality, justice, and the rule of law'? For that matter, here in France, you can see for yourself who opposes your 'land of liberty, equality, justice, and the rule of law' most fiercely."
Napoleon fell silent for a while, then spoke anyway. "But, Joseph, they aren't all Machiavellis. Remember, we're one of them too." Perhaps he realized himself that his idea was a little too wishful; his objection came out in a low voice, without much force behind it.
"Napoleon, individuals and groups aren't the same. An individual may betray his own interests, but a group has never betrayed its own interests—and never will," Joseph said. "Napoleon, if you want to change Corsica, you'll have to redistribute its interests. That means starting a revolution. And throughout history, in every revolution, what's the most important question? Do you know?"
Napoleon shook his head.
"Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? That's the first and foremost question of the revolution." Joseph shamelessly claimed the words of a great man as his own. "There have been many reasons why past revolutionary struggles achieved so little, but the most fundamental was their failure to unite with true friends in order to attack their true enemies. Revolutionaries are the guides of the masses. Whenever revolutionaries lead the way wrong, the revolution fails. If we want to avoid going astray and have a sure chance of success, then we must unite with our true friends to attack our true enemies."
Napoleon lowered his head and thought for a while before looking up again. The defiant glint in his eyes had disappeared, replaced by a look of eager curiosity.
"Then how do we figure out who our friends are and who our enemies are?" Napoleon asked.
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