Getting His Way

After leaving the task of proving the second solution to Gauss, Joseph happily went back to playing with the girl. Regarding Alice's education, Joseph summarized the lessons learned from his sisters, especially Pauline. (Pauline: So I'm the guinea pig? Napoleon: Pauline has experience? Lucien: Pauline is more experienced than me in many ways. Pauline: shivers with anger) Joseph made some adjustments to Alice's education.

First, Joseph believed that Pauline's education had been quite successful.

First and foremost, her most obvious success is that no one can fool our Toulon Saintess with sweet talk or anything like that. In this regard, Pauline's expertise might even surpass that of Lucien. Of course, there's a lesson to be learned: while Pauline isn't afraid of emotional con artists, Pauline method of not being afraid is to become one herself. That won't do.

However, Joseph believes that Pauline's greatest and most fundamental success in education lies in the fact that Pauline's underlying operational procedures are fundamentally different from those of women in this era. Pauline's mind operates on an operating system designed for owners and rulers. The essence of this system is the famous quote from the Rome sage, remarkably similar to Pauline's attitude towards all men and women. "I came, I saw, I conquered." To put it more clearly, it's about knowing what one's own interests are and how to pursue them. This is something that must be consistently upheld.

However, Joseph also believed that Pauline's upbringing had significant flaws. These flaws lay in the fact that while she possessed a sound underlying logic, she lacked appropriate external refinement. To put it more bluntly, her behavior differed too greatly from prevailing social norms, easily attracting unnecessary trouble and ultimately harming her own interests. In other words, Pauline was too straightforward and lacked sufficient deception.

Furthermore, Pauline has another obvious problem, which is also a common problem among many women: if described using a nine-square grid of factions, they generally tend to be too inclined towards the chaotic faction. This tendency leads to a lack of planning and excessive impulsiveness in doing things. If she just wants to be a carefree, leisurely young person, that's not a problem. But if she wants to become a truly free person who can control the situation, then this chaotic tendency must be eliminated as much as possible.

To cultivate planning skills, it's essential to start early. Joseph playing chess with the girl is part of that. However, Joseph originally intended to forbid taking back moves, believing that children wouldn't understand the importance of thinking things through before acting. But in practice, the moment the girl pouts, Joseph abandons all principles. So, it's truly hard to say what Alice will become in the future.

On the day Joseph and his party arrived in Milan, His Majesty Napoleon submitted a high-level mathematical paper to the French Academy of Sciences. After reviewing it, several members of the Academy of Sciences gave it high praise, including comments such as "extremely important" and "highly generalizable."

Two days later, Mr. Laplace and Mr. Monge jointly proposed a motion at the Academy. In this motion, they suggested that, in view of Mr. Napoleon Bonaparte 'Napoleon outstanding contributions to mathematics, he be exceptionally awarded the title of Academician of the French Academy of Sciences and the honorary title of Scholar Bonaparte Rome.

According to general practice, becoming a member of the French Academy of Sciences, or Rome scholar, requires a probationary period. In most cases, as long as the probationary members don't cause any major uproar during their probationary period, they can smoothly become members upon completion. However, Napoleon knew that he absolutely could not have a probationary period, because Joseph would definitely find a reason to kick him out while he was still a probationary. Therefore, he had to make it a done deal before Joseph returned. After all, once he wore the hat of an academician, according to tradition, it was a lifetime appointment, and even if he made no further contributions, he could retain this honor forever. Napoleon believed that Joseph, considering the interests of those "old scientists," would not change this rule.

By this time, Mr. Lavoisier's "illness" had also subsided, and as acting dean, he immediately approved a vote on the motion. The subsequent voting process was, of course, without a doubt; everyone, including Joseph's students still in Paris, voted in favor without hesitation—their teacher would understand, after all. Of course, after voting, they would write to their teacher to explain the situation, even though he was not at home and wouldn't receive these letters immediately. But, wasn't his wife still alive?

Of course, even if he didn't receive letters from the students, Joseph would still find out about it quickly, because there were already wired telegraphs and newspapers in the world.

Joseph saw in the newspaper that Napoleon had been unanimously elected as a member of the French Academy of Sciences of Sciences.

"Damn it! He actually used this diversionary tactic on me!" Connecting the dots, Joseph immediately understood. "That bastard... well, he must have bribed Lavoisier. Mr. Lavoisier has made a lot of money over the years, so his standards have risen considerably. Bribing him will be much harder than in previous years... Damn it, this money must be taken back from Napoleon!"

Despite his anger, Joseph had no intention of interrupting the trip and returning immediately. Doing so would make him a laughingstock across Europe. Besides, the little girl was having a great time, and interrupting the trip now would upset her. Furthermore, Napoleon would undoubtedly have prepared for any eventuality of his return, perhaps five or six contingency plans. Going back now would mean attacking an enemy position that was already prepared, and Joseph wouldn't do something so reckless.

"Ha, Napoleon, you're so naive. You think you can win against me with such methods? The Academy of Sciences, no matter what, is still my territory," Joseph thought.

So Joseph suppressed his anger—to be honest, it wasn't necessarily that he was that angry, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to suppress it so easily. But at the same time, he was convinced that those scoundrels at the École Normale Supérieure were behind this mess, hmph!