Don Quixote and Sancho

Mr. Foy recovered quickly, which was only natural—it was just seasickness. Such an ailment is easily cured by a good night's sleep. The next morning, they continued their journey, and after a day of being jolted about in a carriage, the party finally arrived at Marseille, a major stronghold in the south of France.

The two brothers, Joseph and Napoleon, were enrolled in Autun College, a noble school in Marseille, to study French. It was an institution for the aristocracy, and naturally, the students were all nobles—though they were merely "provincial nobles." Yet, even "provincial nobles" were far more "noble" than "Corsican nobles." If nothing else, their lifestyle and manners were enough to completely crush these two poor boys from Corsica.

At first, when the students learned that two poor noble boys from Corsica were coming to their school, they were generally quite interested and welcoming.

This was not due to any hospitality on their part, but because the arrival of two bumpkins was, in the eyes of these noble students, a rather amusing prospect. Much like the young masters and misses in the Prospect Garden, who, despite looking down on the impoverished Granny Liu, all eagerly anticipated her visits, these "provincial noble" youths were in dire need of some "Granny Liu" figures to mock and enrich their empty, boring extracurricular lives. Though, had they themselves appeared among the high nobles of Paris, they would have been viewed as "country bumpkins" in turn.

The image of the two brothers upon their arrival at Autun College certainly lived up to the expectations of the noble students. Both had grown up by the sea, raised wild and rugged, leaving them with dark, ruddy complexions and skin far less refined than that of their classmates—a look that screamed "lower class." Furthermore, the stark contrast in their heights—Joseph being tall and thin, while Napoleon was short and stocky—reminded one of Wu Da and Wu Er from Water Margin. Here, the students immediately dubbed them with nicknames: one was called Don Quixote, and the other, Sancho.

Many years later, in his letters to Napoleon, Joseph would sometimes jokingly refer to him as "my dear Sancho," signing off as "Don Quixote de la Mancha." Napoleon would reply in kind, calling himself "Don Quixote" and referring to Joseph as "Sancho," for he felt that in terms of personality, he was more akin to the knight who fought windmills, while the rational Joseph was more like Sancho.

The two brothers did indeed provide much amusement for the students of the school. First was their accent. While the noble students were also provincials, they all spoke French with a hint of a Parisian lilt. As for the brothers, the elder, Joseph, was slightly better; though his French had a heavy accent, it was at least recognizable as French. His younger brother, Napoleon, was different. His French not only carried a thick Corsican accent but was also peppered with so many Corsican words that it could hardly be considered French at all. Thus, one of the favorite pastimes of the bored classmates was to mimic the brothers' accents and the various mannerisms they deemed "uncouth."

Generally speaking, the more shallow and incompetent a person is, the more they enjoy mocking the flaws of others, especially when that person clearly surpasses them in ability.

Although Napoleon's spoken French was poor, both he and Joseph performed exceptionally well in their studies. Joseph, needless to say, was a transmigrator from the twenty-first century, possessing knowledge far beyond this era; pretending to be a top student in a noble school was no difficult task. In fact, his greater headache was how to hide his knowledge, which was far too advanced for the time. Aside from subjects like art, he could easily crush everyone in the school in terms of academic performance.

As for Napoleon, while he lacked the "cheat codes" in Joseph's brain, he was naturally intelligent. Ever since he learned from Joseph about the importance of knowledge—particularly mathematics, geography, history, and physics—to the art of war, he approached his studies, especially those related to warfare, with great seriousness. His innate intelligence, combined with his diligent attitude, made Napoleon stand out in these subjects. The "provincial noble" students lagged far behind him in these areas, and in almost every subject other than spoken language, they were no match for Joseph.

After being suppressed by the brothers in terms of intellect, these noble classmates became even more fond of maliciously mimicking their accents. At first, they targeted Joseph. This was natural; Joseph was tall, and though he was currently a bit thin—a side effect of a youth's rapid growth—every young man wants to be taller. Moreover, Joseph was quite handsome, despite his slightly dark complexion. With his top-tier grades in almost every subject, one might think, Why doesn't a guy like that just drop dead?

However, the noble students soon abandoned Joseph as a target because whenever they provoked him or mimicked his accent, they never received the reaction they desired. They hoped to see Joseph panic or grow angry; either reaction would have given them a chance to gloat and brought them endless joy.

Yet, Joseph's reaction was entirely outside their expectations. When they performed their little act, Joseph showed no panic or anger; instead, he watched their performance with a smile, looking at them as if they were monkeys in a circus.

Such a reaction could not bring them joy, so they shifted their focus more toward Napoleon. Compared to Joseph, Napoleon clearly had more weaknesses. He was shorter, his accent was heavier, and he had more "flaws." More importantly, Napoleon's reactions were much more entertaining, for whenever they provoked him, they could easily enjoy his rage.

But they soon discovered that provoking Napoleon was not a fun game. Unlike provoking Joseph—which yielded no joy but was at least safe—Napoleon would launch a counterattack without hesitation the moment he felt offended. And he did so in the most "lower-class" way possible: using violence, punching, kicking, and even biting.

Although the young masters in the school were taller than Napoleon, they lacked training in such brawling. Combat skills were a mandatory course for nobles, but that referred to swordsmanship. (At the time, it was popular to resolve issues through duels, and rapier technique was a required skill. Of course, at the age of the students at Autun College, they were not yet capable of handling rapiers, so they mostly learned small-sword techniques.) As for the barbaric, hand-to-hand fighting style involving fists, fingernails, and teeth, they knew nothing.

Thus, whenever a fight broke out, they were always the ones to suffer. Furthermore, Napoleon fought dirty; he knew how to inflict pain without leaving obvious marks. And whenever a teacher arrived, Napoleon could always appear more pathetic and aggrieved than the person he had beaten.

In the end, everyone realized that neither of the Joseph brothers was fun to mess with; in fact, they were quite unpleasant. Consequently, fewer people took the initiative to provoke them, but on the other hand, the two brothers were isolated by their classmates. Neither Joseph nor Napoleon cared a whit about this isolation.

"These are a group of people destined to be abandoned by history. They are not worth investing even a shred of energy in. Thinking that such people will become the upper crust of France in the future, the anxiety I felt while visiting Toulon and seeing those warships has vanished. Besides, as you know, I will not be staying at this school for long.

Mr. Lefebvre, who teaches mathematics, told me that the school can recommend one student this year to the Brienne Military School, a state-funded military academy where I can learn all kinds of military techniques. If Joseph does not compete with me (that ambitious fellow has his heart set on the schools in Paris and the University of Paris—he doesn't even think about how old he is, or how our family could afford the tuition for such a place), I am certain I can secure the spot, as those delicate, effeminate noble boys have no intention of studying there. But I feel this is the school most suited for me." This was Napoleon's assessment of his classmates at Autun College, written in a letter to his father, which was made public many years later.

Just as the letter stated, Napoleon would not be at Autun College for much longer. Perhaps by the tail end of spring, he would transfer to the Brienne Military School. As for his brother Joseph, he was indeed, as Napoleon said, single-mindedly focused on the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris.

This school was the best secondary school in all of France, and more importantly, it offered the highest scholarships in the country for outstanding students. These scholarships were more than enough to cover all of a student's normal living and study expenses in Paris. For instance, the future firebrand Robespierre received a scholarship of six hundred francs upon his graduation from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.