Fox of France

Nitroglycerin was originally invented by the Italian chemist Sobre in 1846. But the raw materials for making it, such as glycerin, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid, already exist. At this point in time, it is not too difficult technically to make nitroglycerin. In fact, the preparation of nitroglycerin is not too difficult, as long as the temperature must be kept low throughout the preparation process.

But in the original history, it was this precaution that was mastered by people at a huge price, even blood. Mr. Lu Xun once sighed and said: "The history of human bloody battles is like the formation of coal. At the beginning, a large amount of wood was used, but the result was only a small piece." In fact, the history of technological progress is also the same. Many skills that have been mastered at great cost are actually quite simple to put it bluntly.

Of course, Joseph did not want Lavoisier to be blown to death by nitroglycerin, so in the letter to Lavoisier, he clearly proposed the control of temperature. Starting from the theory of molecular motion, Joseph believes that more intense molecular motion will make the reaction more intense, thereby increasing the risk. Therefore, controlling the temperature and keeping the temperature at a low level will slow down the reaction speed, but it can greatly increase safety.

But even with this key guidance, it is still difficult to keep everything from happening. Just two days later, Lavoisier's first explosion occurred on the domain of the Duke of Orléans. An assistant did not strictly follow the operating procedures, and injected the acid too quickly, which resulted in a serious accident in which one person died and five others were injured. This is because the amount of nitroglycerin produced is relatively small, otherwise, most of the remaining five people would not be able to save their lives.

The explosion frightened Lavoisier. He was there at the time, but he left for a while because he was thirsty and wanted to drink water, and then the explosion occurred. Of course, if he was there at the time, it's hard to say whether the assistant would still come in violation of the specification. On the contrary, Duke Phillips seemed extraordinarily calm and even more interested in this thing. Because he saw the power of this thing with his own eyes, he immediately realized that this thing is really promising. As for the casualties during the research process, well, they also sacrificed for the development of science, and they died well. People are always going to die, but the meaning of death is different. To die like them for the advancement of science is to die harder than the Alps. As for whether people will be killed during production in the future, well, production accidents are also unavoidable, and people have been hit to death by a carriage while walking. Besides, even if those workers died, they died for the construction of France, so what's the problem? Anyway, no matter what, you can't die here with His Highness the Duke, just like His Highness the Duke will never be hit to death by a carriage when he goes out on the street.

Just when explosions were heard from time to time in the manor of Duke Phillips, Joseph finished his business in Calais and returned to Paris. And his younger brother Napoleon and his younger brother Louis also came to Paris.

"I took a leave of absence from the army and went back to Corsica to bring you Louis. Do you have any water here? I'm dying of thirst," Napoleon cried when he saw Joseph.

"The water is over there, you drink it upside down." Joseph said. Then he walked up to Louis and said, "Well, Louis, you have grown a little taller, already taller than Napoleon, hahaha. Napoleon, in our family, including girls, you may become the shortest one of them."

Napoleon didn't like people making jokes about his height, but he knew that the more angry he was, the more complacent Joseph, a nasty guy, might be. So he simply ignored this guy, just poured himself a glass of water, and gulped it down.

"How's it going at home?" Joseph asked again.

"Very bad," said Napoleon.

"It's nothing bad, it's the same as before," Louis said.

"The same as before is the worst bad." Napoleon said.

"What's the matter? After seeing the world, you are not satisfied with Corsica? You don't like Corsica anymore?" Joseph sat down on the chair by the table, and slowly raised his legs and asked.

"How can I look down on Corsica?" Napoleon was quite dissatisfied, "It's just that Corsica lacks too much change. In France, in Paris, you can always feel changes, new ideas, and new science. , new opportunities, changing every day, making progress. But what about Corsica, today is the same as yesterday, yesterday is the same as the day before yesterday. I talk to people, and what’s going on in their heads is the same as it was ten years ago, or even There is no difference between a hundred years ago and two hundred years ago. Even those patriots are like this. They just want to be independent, and then close the door and continue to live the life of hundreds of years ago. This is not a good thing. Corsica should not be like this."

"Then what do you think Corsica should look like? Napoleon, it seems that you thought the same way back then." Joseph stared at Napoleon with a mocking smile.

"This shows that I have made progress and surpassed others." Napoleon replied, "As for what Corsica should look like. I think Corsica in the future should be a country of freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law, just like Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, they describe it."

"Napoleon, you have indeed made progress!" Joseph laughed, "Then what are you going to do?"

"During the time in my hometown, I have been thinking about this issue. First of all, I think that the most fundamental problem in Corsica is not the French occupation, but the people's inability to wake up. To really change Corsica, It starts with educating our people, waking up our people."

"What?" Joseph was taken aback, staring at his brother with wide eyes. "Is there something wrong with this guy? Could it be that, because of the butterfly effect brought about by our time travel, this guy no longer plans to become a famous general, but plans to become a Lu Xun who awakens the people?"

Joseph hesitated for a moment and asked, "Napoleon, what are your specific plans?"

"I'm going to write a history of Corsica, like the Gallic War," said Napoleon.

After hearing this sentence, Joseph was relieved, it seems that Napoleon is still Napoleon. "Gallic Wars" is the work of Julius Caesar in ancient Rome. This shows that the role model in Napoleon's heart is still a statesman and military strategist like Julius Caesar. And creating the history of Corsica is just a means for him to achieve his political goals.

"I'm not too optimistic about your plan." Joseph shook his head and said, "You know, the proportion of illiteracy in Corsica is higher than that of France and Italy, and there are very few people who can read."

Napoleon opened his mouth, ready to refute, but Joseph did not give him a chance, but continued: "Napoleon, don't rush to argue, I know what you want to say. You want to say, although Corsica can read There are few people. But as long as these people recognize the problem and understand the new and correct ideas outside, they can not only change themselves, but also drive other people, because these people are the leaders of the Corsicans. You That's what you think, right?"

Napoleon stared at Joseph for a while, and then replied: "Yes, that's what I thought, what's wrong with that?" Because he estimated that Joseph would treat him immediately based on his old habits when dealing with him. Bitter sarcasm, so this answer is a bit reluctant.

Facts have also proved that his prediction is very accurate. Joseph immediately said: "My stupid brother, you are so young and naive! You actually believe that you can use reason to convince people! This is really ridiculous."

Speaking of this, Joseph suddenly leaned forward, leaned close to Napoleon's face, stared into his eyes and said, "My brother, you have to remember that it is never their heads that control most people's actions, but their heads." It’s their asses! It’s not about what’s right or moral, it’s about what’s good for them and where their asses are sitting! Got it?”

After saying this, he straightened up again and said, "Use your head to think about what a 'country of freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law' is to the people you rely on to get things done. Is it beneficial or harmful? Do not mention such things as morality and ideals, you just see them all as the people described by Machiavelli, and then think about it, they will support 'liberty, equality, justice, A country ruled by law'? Among other things, you can also see in France, who are the people who most oppose what you said 'a country governed by freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law'?"

Napoleon was silent for a while, and then said: "But, Joseph, they are not all Machiavelli. You know, we are also one of them." It's just, maybe because he himself is aware of his own. Perhaps his thoughts were a little wishful thinking, but his rebuttal was very low, and it seemed that his momentum was not enough.

"Napoleon, there is a difference between individuals and groups. There are individuals who betray their own interests, but there has never been—and there will never be groups who betray their own interests." Joseph said, "Napoleon, you want to change Corsica, That will inevitably lead to a redefinition of the distribution of benefits, which is to launch a revolution. And since ancient times, in all revolutions, what is the most important issue, do you know?"

Napoleon shook his head.

"Who is our enemy? Who is our friend? This question is the first question of the revolution." Joseph shamelessly took the thoughts of the great men as his own, "There are many reasons for the failure of revolutionary struggles that have achieved little success in the past. , but the most basic reason is that we cannot unite with real friends to attack real enemies. Revolutionaries are the guides of the masses, and there is no revolution that does not fail when revolutionaries lead the wrong way. If we want to have We must pay attention to uniting with our real friends in order to attack our real enemies.”

Napoleon lowered his head and thought for a while before raising his head. The unconvinced expression in his eyes had disappeared, and instead there was a light of longing.

"Then how do we know who is our friend and who is our enemy?" asked Napoleon.