Mr. Foy recovered quickly, which was only to be expected; he had merely been seasick. There was no such thing as failing to feel better after a good night's sleep. So early the next morning, they continued on their way. After a whole day jolting along in a four-wheeled carriage, they finally reached Marseille, a major city in southern France.
The two Joseph brothers were enrolled in Autun College, a prestigious school in Marseille, to study French. It was an aristocratic school, so naturally all its students were nobles, though only "provincial nobles." Even so, "provincial nobles" were still far more "noble" than "Corsican nobles." In every respect, their way of life alone was enough to crush the two poor boys from Corsica.
At first, when the students heard that two poor noblemen from Corsica were coming to their school, they were generally intrigued and welcoming.
That wasn't because they were warm and hospitable. Rather, to the noble students, having two country bumpkins arrive at school was an amusing prospect. It was like the young ladies and gentlemen of the Grand View Garden: though not one of them thought much of the impoverished Granny Liu, every one of them looked forward to her visits. These "provincial nobles" likewise needed a few "Granny Lius" to laugh at, to liven up their empty, boring free time. Of course, if they themselves ended up among the great nobles of Paris, they'd be dismissed as "country bumpkins" too.
When the brothers first arrived at Autun College, they certainly looked every bit as the noble students had hoped. Both had grown up by the sea, and both had grown wild and rough, so their faces were dark and ruddy, and their skin was nowhere near as delicate as their classmates'. They looked like lower-class people at a glance. On top of that, they were strikingly different in height: Joseph was tall and thin, while Napoleon was short and stocky. In China, the difference in height between the brothers might have called to mind Wu the Elder and Wu the Younger from Water Margin. Here, the students promptly gave them nicknames: one was Don Quixote, the other Sancho.
Many years later, when Joseph wrote to Napoleon, he would sometimes jokingly call him "my dear Sancho," and sign his letters "Don Quixote de la Mancha." In his replies, Napoleon would reverse the roles, calling himself "Don Quixote" and Joseph "Sancho." He felt that, as far as their personalities went, he was more like the knight who charged at windmills, while the level-headed Joseph was more like Sancho.
The brothers did, indeed, have plenty of qualities that amused the students at the school. For one thing, there was their accent. Although the school's noble students were all from the provinces, they could still speak French with a hint of a Parisian lilt. The Joseph brothers, on the other hand, were a different matter. The elder brother, Joseph, was a little better: although his French had a strong accent, at least it still counted as French. His younger brother, Napoleon, was another story. His French not only had a heavy Corsican accent, but was peppered with Corsican words, to the point that it barely counted as French at all. So one of the idle students' favorite pastimes was imitating the brothers' accents and the supposedly uncouth things they did.
Generally speaking, the more shallow and incapable people were, the more they enjoyed mocking other people's flaws, especially when those people were clearly more capable than they were.
Napoleon might not have been much good at speaking French, but both he and Joseph excelled at their studies. Joseph went without saying: a time traveler from the twenty-first century, he possessed knowledge far beyond the reach of his era. It was no great challenge for him to pass himself off as a top student at an aristocratic school. In fact, figuring out how to conceal all the knowledge he had that was so far ahead of its time was what gave him the bigger headache. In almost every subject except the arts, he could easily crush everyone at the school.
As for Napoleon, he didn't have the cheat codes in Joseph's head, but he was naturally clever. And ever since Joseph had explained how important knowledge—especially mathematics, geography, history, and physics—was to warfare, Napoleon had taken his studies seriously, particularly those subjects closely tied to war. His innate intelligence, combined with his diligence, made him stand out in those subjects. The "provincial noble" students were nowhere near as good as Napoleon in them, and in nearly every subject other than spoken French, they were far behind Joseph as well.
After being outclassed intellectually by the brothers, their noble classmates became even more eager to cruelly imitate their accents. At first, they targeted Joseph. That was only natural. Joseph was tall, and though he was rather thin at the moment, looking a bit like a bamboo pole, that was merely a side effect of the rapid growth spurt boys went through. Who didn't want to be taller, and then taller still? Joseph was good-looking too, despite being a little dark-skinned. And on top of that, he was nearly the best in every subject. Honestly, why didn't a guy like that just hurry up and die?
But the noble students soon gave up on Joseph as a target. Whenever they deliberately provoked him or mimicked his accent in front of him, they never got the reaction they wanted. They hoped he would be frightened or angry; either response would give them something to savor and bring them endless delight.
Joseph's reaction, however, was completely beyond their expectations. When they put on their little show in front of him, he didn't seem frightened or angry. Instead, he watched with a smile, as if they were monkeys performing in a circus.
Naturally, that reaction gave them no pleasure, so they turned their attention more toward Napoleon. Compared with Joseph, Napoleon clearly had more weaknesses. He was shorter, had a stronger accent, and was darker-skinned. More importantly, his reactions were more entertaining. Whenever they provoked him like that, they could easily enjoy his anger.
But they soon realized that provoking Napoleon wasn't much fun after all. Unlike provoking Joseph, which brought no pleasure but at least posed no danger, provoking Napoleon meant that the moment he felt insulted, he would strike back without hesitation—and in the most low-class manner possible: with violence, kicking and punching, and even biting.
The young masters at school were all bigger than Napoleon, but none of them had any training in that kind of brawling. Fighting was also a required skill for nobles, but that meant fighting with swords. (At the time, dueling was still a popular way to settle disputes, so skill with the smallsword was a required part of a nobleman's education. Of course, the students at Autun College were still too young to handle such weapons, so most of their training was in rapier technique.) As for the barbaric way of fighting barehanded, with fists, fingernails, and teeth, they knew nothing about it.
So whenever a fight broke out, they were the ones who came off worse. Napoleon also fought dirty: he hit hard, but rarely left any obvious marks. And whenever a teacher arrived, Napoleon could always make himself look more injured and more aggrieved than the person who had been beaten.
In the end, everyone realized that the Joseph brothers weren't all that fun to mess with. In fact, they weren't fun at all; they only made the others uncomfortable. Fewer people came to bother the brothers, but on the other hand, their classmates began to ostracize them. Neither Joseph nor Napoleon cared in the slightest.
"These are people destined to be cast aside by history. They aren't worth investing even the tiniest bit of effort in. When I think that people like them will one day become France's upper class, the anxiety I felt when I visited Toulon and saw those warships vanishes without a trace. Besides, you know I won't be staying at this school for long.
"Mr. Lefebvre, who teaches mathematics, told me that this year the school can recommend one student to Brienne Military School, a military academy where tuition is paid by the state. I'll be able to learn all kinds of military skills there. If Joseph doesn't compete with me—this high-flying fellow has his heart set on those schools in Paris and the University of Paris. He should think about how old he is. And how could our family afford the tuition for a school like the University of Paris?—I think I'm certain to get the place, since none of those pampered, womanly noble boys have any intention of studying there. But I think it's the school best suited to me." This was Napoleon's assessment of his classmates at Autun College in a letter to his father, one of the letters of Emperor Napoleon that was made public many years later.
Just as the letter said, Napoleon wouldn't be studying at Autun College for much longer. Perhaps by the tail end of spring, he would be transferring to Brienne Military School. As for his elder brother Joseph, he was indeed, as Napoleon had said, thinking single-mindedly about Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris.
It was the best secondary school in all of France. More importantly, it offered the highest scholarships in the country to outstanding students. The scholarships could fully cover a student's ordinary study and living expenses in Paris. For example, Robespierre, who would later rise to prominence, received a full six hundred francs in scholarships when he graduated from Lycée Louis-le-Grand.
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