That summer, Napoleon passed his graduation exams and graduated from the officer school as he had hoped. He was transferred to Raphael's regiment and received the rank of second lieutenant of artillery. On the day Napoleon left Paris, Joseph went to the courier station to see him off. Napoleon wore a new gray-blue uniform, hanging a sword at his waist, and looked particularly spirited, if not a little shorter, but also a bit of a powerful look.

"The "officer looked. Joseph reached out and patted Napoleon on the shoulder and said, "Dry up well and become a general soon.

"What's the point of being a general in France?" But Napoleon whispered.

"Don't say such things in front of others. Joseph said, "Go to the army and do your best so that you can be useful for whatever you do in the future.

After sending Napoleon away and returning to the school, Joseph had just sat down at his desk and hadn't had time to make himself a cup of coffee when he saw Will, the principal's secretary, walk-in.

"Mr. Bonaparte, the principal wants to see you," Will said. Will said.

Joseph hurriedly stood up and followed Will towards the two-story building occupied exclusively by the principal.

"Will, what does the principal want from me? Joseph asked as he walked along the path by the flower bed toward the building.

"I don't know exactly, but you'll find out later when you meet the principal. Will replied.

A wigged waiter opened the door for them and took the hat Joseph handed him, saying, "Monsieur Bonaparte, the Count is waiting for you in his office upstairs. Please come with me.

Joseph followed the waiter, went up to the second floor, and entered the office of Count Dupont. Then the waiter withdrew.

"Ah, Monsieur Bonaparte, you are here," said Count Dupont. Count Dupont said.

"What do you want from me, rector?" Joseph asked. Joseph asked.

"Yes, some engineering matters. Well ．．．．．． Have you ever been to Calais, the lace manufacturer?" Count Dupont suddenly asked.

"No," Joseph replied. Joseph replied.

"Oh, Calais is not bad for a provincial city. It's nice to take a little "lover" or a few on vacation. But that's not why I mentioned Calais to you this time. Would you like to go?" Count Dupont said with a smile.

"I would like to serve my country. Joseph said hastily, "I wonder what it is?

"The fort at Calais was too old and out of use. It is necessary to build a new battery to protect the harbor. The new fort needs a mathematical consultant. Mr. Monge should have been assigned to this task. But Mr. Monge had other commitments, so he recommended you. Joseph - is it all right if I call you that?"

"Of course," Joseph said hastily.

"Well, Joseph." The salary at the school is very limited," said Count Dupont, "and it's not enough to starve a man, but it's not easy to get by on it alone. But it's not easy to make a good living on it. And it's very tiring to do this kind of work, but the pay is very good. A few times with such tasks, you can save a small amount of money. Look at Monge, his salary is much higher than yours, but by doing more of these things, he earns at least six or seven times more than you.

Joseph knew that Monge recommended this to him because he was too busy with his work, but it was also obvious that he was being taken care of. So he said gratefully, "Thank you, principal.

"Why thank me? You should thank Monsieur Monge more. Of course, Monge is a bit old-fashioned. If you give him a gift, he may think you are insulting his character. ．．．．．．" The first thing you need to do is to send him an article that has been created. The first time you go to work as a mathematical advisor, either I or Monge, hope that you can take this opportunity to go further in the academics. Well, it's not too urgent there, but if you have nothing else to do, arrange your work on hand and report to Calais as soon as possible.

Knowing that these words were the Chinese equivalent of serving tea to a guest, Joseph thanked Count Dupont again and withdrew. Now that the semester was almost over, he had nothing on his hands. The fact is that the actual person is not only the actual person but also the actual person who is the actual person.

In the latter days, there is a Eurostar high-speed rail link between Paris and Calais, and it takes less than an hour to go from Paris to Calais. But in this era, there is no such good thing, it took two whole days for Joseph to arrive at Calais near sunset.

Because the time was already very late, Joseph did not go directly to the naval camp in Calais port. At this time, the navy side most likely will not receive him. So he directly found a very ordinary hotel near the port and stayed there. After fighting with the bedbugs all night, he left the hotel at dawn the next day and made up his mind never to stay in such cheap hotels again.

Along the stone-paved streets, Joseph walked in the direction of the port.

The port of Calais was divided into two parts, with a noisy civilian dock on one side, where several whistle boats and other vessels were docked along with a few pallets. Although it was still early, sailors could already be seen scrubbing the decks. On the other side, there was the military dock of the French Navy. The military dock in Calais was much smaller than the civilian dock, with only one pallet and only one single-deck frigate, and one patrol boat with only two masts parked on the side of the pallet. The main strength of the French Navy has always been in the direction of the Mediterranean, and Calais is so close to England that if you stand high up on the shore and look to the west, you can even see the white cliffs on both sides of the Dover harbor directly across the water if the weather is good. The French navy probably thought that if they placed their main force here, they would be worried that one day they would be blocked by the British navy in the harbor. Therefore, they never placed their main force here. Perhaps for the same reason, the British also never put their main fleet in Dover.

Joseph then walked towards the military dock. He came to the gate with the barred horses.

"Stop, military restricted area, no approach! A red-nosed sentry shouted at him and came towards Joseph with a bayoneted flintlock pistol.

"I am Joseph Bonaparte, a mathematics teacher at the Paris Military Academy. I have been ordered to report to Commander Welford. Joseph said while pulling out a letter of introduction and handing it over.

"Stop, military restricted area, no approach! A red-nosed sentry shouted at him and came towards Joseph with a flintlock rifle with bayonet.

After saying this, he took the letter of introduction and turned around, and walked into the gate. After giving a few instructions to another sentry, he took the letter and walked towards a small building on the other side.

Joseph then stood outside the gate and waited. After a while, he saw the sentry and a captain coming together.

The captain said to Joseph: "Mr. Bonaparte, I am Captain Cisse of the Navy. Commander Welford is not in the port now. He is in the fortress on the hill over there. I can send one of my men to take you there.

"Then I'll be grateful to you," Joseph replied. Joseph replied.

"Do you know how to ride a horse?" Captain Cisse asked again.

"A little," Joseph replied.

"That's good," Cisse said. He turned to the sentry and said, "Pierre, go and get us two horses.

The sentry replied and left, and Cisse and Joseph talked.

"How can there be such a young math teacher at the military school in Paris nowadays?" Cisse said. Cisse said.

"Monsieur Monge was young when he made his debut," Joseph replied. Joseph replied.

"Yes, yes, all geniuses are like that." Cisse said, "Well, I see by your name that you are of Italian ancestry?

"I'm a Corsican." Joseph replied, "Half Italian, I guess.

"My grandfather's generation was still Italian. But we've been in France for three generations. Well, I don't speak Italian very well anymore. I heard that the Corsican dialect is very close to Italian?" Cisse said.

"It's so close that, in a sense, the Corsican dialect should be considered a dialect of Italian. ．．．．．．"

While the two men were talking, the sentry Pierre had come with two horses.

They were two ordinary army horses, which the navy only needed for commuting and pulling, not for battle.

Cisse handed Joseph the reins of one of the gray and white horses and said, "Monsieur Bonaparte, you follow me, I will slow down.

Joseph thanked him, took the reins, and turned on his horse. Cisse stood by, as if ready to give Joseph a hand if necessary. He nodded when he saw that Joseph had gotten on his horse so neatly, and then nodded and got on the other horse as well, and then spurred the horse to go ahead of him.

The fortress was not far from the military port it was on top of a small plateau a few dozen meters above the port. The two men drove their horses for just a few minutes, and then they approached the fortress.

After dismounting in front of the fortress's barricade, Cisse said a few words to the sentry in front of the fortress, handed the two horses over to the sentry, and led Joseph into the fortress.

"The sentry recognized Cisse, to be sure. But just because he knew him, he let him bring another man into the fort without even asking him. This discipline of the French navy ．．．．．． No wonder they were beaten by the British in a fancy way." Joseph could not help but think.

Cisse led Joseph along a stone path, around the front gun emplacement, then around a maple forest, and a small white two-story building appeared in front of them.

"This is the command of the fortress, Commander Welford is here," Cisse said to Joseph. Cisse said to Joseph. Then he led Joseph to walk over.