King's Landing in France

Chapter 47 The Listener and the Storyteller
When An Ning was shocked by Napoleon's apology, Napoleon said again: "But I still have to write to my father."

An Ning: "Why?"

"I just wanted to try it," Napoleon replied. "Although there are enjoyable things in Brienne, such as reading Plutarch and chatting with you, the rest is depressing."

An Ning was stunned, he was actually on a par with Plutarch, a Greek writer from the ancient Roman era.

Plutarch wrote The Heroes of Greece and Rome, and according to various versions of Napoleon's biography, Napoleon was obsessed with this book as a boy.

An Ning, who successfully tied with the ancient Greek writers, said, "Well, you can give it a try."

So that night, Napoleon sent a long letter to his father.

A few weeks later a reply came from Napoleon's father, Carlo Bonaparte.

The next morning after receiving the reply letter, An Ning ran into Napoleon on the way to school. The little man looked a little sad, like an eggplant beaten by frost.

Napoleon: "Father let me stay in Brienne because we had no money - exactly as we predicted chances before."

An Ning smiled: "Congratulations, you can spend more time with your favorite Plutarch."

Napoleon shook his head: "I have read "The Heroes of Greece and Rome" several times, and I can even recite some passages in it."

"Then you can try watching "Spartacus"...uh..."

An Ning suddenly remembered that the novel version of "Spartacus" was written by an Italian in the 19th century, and it hasn't been born yet.

Napoleon frowned: "Spartacus? Is it the rebellious slave? What's so good about a slave?"

An Ning replied: "He is an oppressed class just like us. I am a commoner, and I am ridiculed by the nobles all day long. One should empathize with Spartacus' situation."

Napoleon was stunned: "Well, where can I see the detailed story of this slave?"

An Ning was silent. At this moment, Spartacus is still an ordinary historical figure, and Giovanio's masterpiece that portrayed him as a revolutionary in the ancient Roman era has not yet been born.

An Ning: "You can listen to me. I also listened to my grandfather telling me when I was young."

An Ning has not only read Giovannio's well-received novel, but also the famous director Kubrick's masterpiece, and later watched the American drama version.

However, the American TV version is somewhat inferior to Kubrick's works.

But it doesn't matter, now An Ning can tell Napoleon vividly about Spartask's life.

Napoleon frowned: "That's interesting, your grandfather was also a cobbler, how did he know about the slave uprising in Roman times?"

An Ning: "Many stories are passed down by word of mouth."

Napoleon shrugged and didn't go into it.

From this day on, in addition to talking to Napoleon about Rousseau, Montesquieu and Voltaire, An Ning would also tell him about the Spartacus uprising.

It was only then that An Ning realized that he had a bit of talent as a storyteller. In this era, he could take a lute and go to a tavern to be a bard, and in this day and age, he could be a taxi driver.

The days went by so uneventfully, and An Ning's life at the Brienne Military Academy entered its third year.

This year the instructors began to teach the cadets how to build fortifications and handle explosives.

In this era, there is a special branch called the Grenadier, which is generally chosen to be tall and strong soldiers, because they want to throw bombs as heavy as a small shot put on the enemy's head.

Because of this, grenadiers are generally not weak in hand-to-hand combat, and they have to undertake ritual tasks from time to time.

The Briena Military Academy didn't know which graduates would be assigned to lead grenadier units, so they taught everyone how to handle explosives and how to drop bombs.

During the bombardment class, Napoleon was laughed at by the nobles again, because he was short, and it was impossible for him to be selected for the grenadier unit.

The stubborn Napoleon threw the unlit bomb as far as the "French trash", and strained his arm for this.

For a few days after that Napoleon grinned as long as he used his dominant hand, and finally had to try to hold a pen with his right hand like a normal person.

An Ning joked, "This way you look a lot more normal."

If someone else had ridiculed him like this, Napoleon would have yelled at him long ago, but there was no problem with An Ning saying that, and the Corsican boy just smiled.

In the third year, there was another change. The Brienne Military Academy divided the large garden of the school into pieces and distributed them to the cadets to take care of them.

An Ning asked the instructor in charge, asking what kind of quality this is for cultivating the students.

As a result, the instructor in charge replied: The school wanted to save money on hiring gardeners, so it was handed over to the students.

The instructor in charge will rate everyone's gardens every week, and those who don't take care of them will be locked up.

An Ning didn't really want to do gardening work, so she wanted to leave the work to Fanny. As a result, Fanny came to the school to take care of the garden on the first day, but the principal bumped into her.

So An Ning received a good training.

Later, Napoleon said that An Ning didn't want to do gardening work, so he would leave it to him. It just so happened that the area that An Ning was allocated was right next to Napoleon's area.

So since then, Napoleon can be seen tending the garden from time to time in the school garden, and he will read in the garden after finishing his work.

Anyone who tried to approach this small world would be driven away by Napoleon brandishing a hoe.

Another year passed, and Napoleon, who was 14 years old, had caught up to everyone's height—although he still looked a little short, but everyone gradually stopped using the pejorative name of dwarf.

At noon on a holiday, Napoleon suddenly found peace: "Hey, Andy, are you free at noon?"

An Ning: "Why, do you want to hear stories again?"

Recently, An Ning began to tell Napoleon about "The Legend of Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties" and "Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness".

"No, it's my brother Joseph, who wrote to me saying that after graduation from the seminary he doesn't intend to be a priest, but to join the army."

An Ning said "Oh". He remembered that this incident was also recorded in Napoleon's biography. At that time, Napoleon wrote a letter to criticize Joseph.

So An Ning got the bottom line: "What do you think? What kind of person is your brother Joseph?"

Napoleon curled his lips: "He is a flirtatious guy. He can be a good garrison officer. I mean, the kind of air force that is not useful. He is handsome and humorous. He can be like a fish in water in social situations. It's a joke, but he will definitely not be able to go to the battlefield."

An Ning nodded: "There is no room for flirty guys on the battlefield."

"In addition, he can get a good salary as a priest. We need this salary now. You know, Andy, my family is very poor, and only a little salary from my father's management of the Wang Family Nursery supports the five of us.

"My younger brothers Lucien and Louis should go to school, and my younger sister Paulina also needs to be educated and needs a dowry to get married. The king just let me and Joseph go to school for free, and my brothers and sisters all need money to go to school."

An Ning: "Your sister Paulina can come to the Brienne Military Academy... just like those young ladies from noble families who have no money."

Napoleon looked at An Ning dissatisfiedly: "What are you talking about, I hope my sister can live like a normal girl."

An Ning: "But your family can't afford Paulina's dowry."

Napoleon was silent. He took a breath and stared at An Ning: "Sometimes you, Andy, are quite annoying."

"I'm just stating the facts." An Ning shrugged. Given his current relationship with Napoleon, it's okay to hate him occasionally.

Napoleon shook his head: "Speaking of Joseph, for the sake of his brothers and sisters, he should also become a priest, but now he tells me that he wants to become an officer. The salary of an officer is not as rich as that of a priest!"

An Ning: "The priest is the first rank after all."

"That's right! I can't even imagine what Joseph would look like as an officer. What branch could he go to? Artillery? However, artillery needs to be proficient in mathematics, and my brother is an idiot who doesn't understand mathematics at all. As for the Navy, my brother who is a big turnip , can you bear the monotonous sailing life? No, you can't!"

An Ning smiled and said, "Look, you have already made your own judgment, you don't need my advice at all."

Napoleon was silent for a few seconds, then took a deep breath: "Yes, I have made a decision. I think I just need an audience, and you are a good audience Andy."

An Ning: "Of course. If you have any troubles in the future, you can talk to me."

After saying this, An Ning could already imagine the scene where Napoleon, who will be the emperor of France in the future, came angrily to find him, slapped the table and complained, "Why are things in Spain always so bad?"

(End of this chapter)