Louis the Great School not only has high scholarships, but also the quality of teaching has always been recognized as good. Founded in 1563 as a Jesuit church school known as the "Clermont School", it was founded in a way that attracted the displeasure of the University of Paris because of its completely free admission to day students.

For more than 200 years, Louis the Great struggled with the University of Paris. In 1762, the University of Paris was victorious, and the Paris Council passed a resolution expelling the Jesuit administrators, leaving the school under the management of the University of Paris, and the school was renamed the Louis the Great School in order to pat the king of the time, Louis XV. The University of Paris seems to have won the two-hundred-year marathon. However, what the University of Paris never expected was that it was under its own control that the real rivals of the University of Paris emerged from this secondary school.

In 1766, the École Louis the Great began to establish a teacher's examination, after which a corresponding pedagogical college was opened to help the candidates. This normal college was the predecessor of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, one of the most famous universities in France.

It is such a secondary school that Joseph hopes to apply for now.

Generally speaking, it is not easy for students from other provinces to pass the qualifying examination of Louis the Great School. First of all, the student must be recommended by the bishop of a certain diocese, and then he must be able to pass the selection of the school. However, these were not particularly big problems for Joseph. As the godson of Bishop Minière, it is not difficult to get a recommendation, and it is not difficult to pass the selection for a time-traveler who has studied for a master's degree in later generations. Just the cost of attending this school is an obstacle in front of Joseph.

After the University of Paris took control of the Louis the Great, the original policy of not paying for day students came to an end. But to be honest, the fees nowadays are not too high, almost symbolic. But the problem is that Paris is expensive, and it is not easy to live in a big place. To be a day student in Paris, it costs a lot of money just to live and eat. Although the scholarship at Louis the Great School is very high, no one can get a scholarship as soon as they enter the school. So now Joseph is in dire need of a start-up capital.

Joseph knew that his father did not have much money in his hands. Carlo had been Paul's lieutenant and had fought against the French for Corsican independence. Although he later submitted to the French, in order to retain his nobility, he had to curry favor with the governor of Corsica, which cost him a lot of his savings. He now has six other children to raise, and he shouldn't have much money.

Joseph wrote a letter to Bishop Minière, asking for his help. He knew that Bishop Minier belonged to the Society of Sympathy for the Jesuits (at this time, the Society had already been outlawed by Pope Clement XIV). But its influence is still there, and many of the styles of Bishop Minière are clearly influenced by the Jesuit monks, so in the letter he specifically refers to the school of Louis the Great as the "Clermont School". And vaguely revealed an interest in theology.

Soon Bishop Minier wrote back to Joseph. The bishop praised Joseph's piety, but he also told Joseph that he did not advocate that Joseph should be thrown into the arms of the church now.

"Child, God has laid many paths for man, and it is not just the clergy that is in line with God's wishes. I think you're too young to make such a decision too early may not be the right one. Maybe you should go through some more things, like love, wealth, power. After that, you may truly understand what kind of path God has prepared for you.

Also, I am very supportive of the idea that you want to go to a better school, and child, you know, in my heart, you are my son. Seeing his son so motivated, which father was dissatisfied and relieved. At this time, when he reaches out to you for help, what father would not want to reach out and take him? But as you know, I'm not a very rich man, so I'll only be able to get a hundred and fifty francs for the time being, and I hope it will help you.

Considering you're only an eleven-year-old, (and sometimes I tend to overlook that) it's so far away to go to Paris. It's really reassuring for me to go to such a far place alone. Priest Alfonso has something to do with his departure to Paris, and I have counted the days and the time you intend to leave for Paris, so I ask him to bring you the one hundred and fifty francs, and to go with you to Paris.

In Paris, the cost of living is very high, and under normal circumstances, a hundred and fifty francs simply does not support it for long. Unless you live in a neighborhood full of people from the bottom. Actually, it's not bad to live there, I lived in that place when I was young, and you can see the darkness that is darker than the darkness, and you can find the whiteness that is whiter than the whiteness in the darkness. That kind of place can give you a lot of knowledge, and even temper your soul. If you're a little older, you're sixteen, then I think you can live in that place for a while. But now...... The law and order there is very chaotic, and leaving you there is like leaving a lamb in a wolf's den. So, I've got a place for you.

Between the Latin Quarter and the Saint-Marceau Pass, there is a Franciscan chapel, where the parish priest Jean Jacques is a friend of mine, and I think he can offer you a humble but relatively safe cottage......"

On the same day that Joseph received the letter, his younger brother Napoleon also received an offer of admission to the Brienne Military Academy. At the age of ten, Napoleon said goodbye to his brother and prepared to go to the school he had always dreamed of.

"My stupid brother." Seeing Napoleon's happy face, Joseph couldn't help but jump out and hit him again, "Do you think that the crows of the Brienne Military Academy are white?" I'm sure there must be the same in that Brienne military school as it is here, full of fools who think they are noble, and you just jump from one fire pit to another. ”

"Sancho, what do you know? I went to the Brienne Military School to learn knowledge, what does it have to do with whether there are fools there? Is it because they are all fools there, so in their books, the sum of the inner angles of the triangle is not one hundred and eighty degrees? What does it matter if you can learn useful knowledge? ”

"Of course it does." Joseph said, "My foolish brother, even a Damascus knife can only be formed with a hammer and an anvil." When you're surrounded by a puddle of mud, where are you going to forge your sword? So, when you get there, remember to write to me often so that I can teach you well. Save you rust and rot in the mud pit. ”

"You're the biggest mud pit in the world." Napoleon's mouth was still very hard.

"Hahahaha......" Joseph laughed heartlessly.

Sent off Napoleon, and after another half a month, it was almost time for the exams at the school of Louis the Great. At this time, the priest Alfonso, whom Bishop Minière mentioned in his letter, also arrived at the Oton School.

After taking a leave of absence from school, Joseph boarded the stagecoach to Avignon with Francis Alfonso.

It's already May, and it's one of the most beautiful seasons of the year. The stagecoach came out of Marseille and raced down the road to Paris, the warm spring breeze blowing in through the windows, carrying the miscellaneous scent of the wildflowers that bloomed along the roadside into the carriage. Looking out of the carriage, on both sides of the road and in the gaps in the dark green wheat fields, there were flowers of various colors, those dark pink were the herbs, the lilac was the wheat sane, and the red and yellow wild moon season. Occasionally, you can see a few small lilacs on the side of the road, swaying their dark purple inflorescences in the spring breeze.

There were six people in the carriage, including Joseph. A priest, a child, two middle-aged men dressed as businessmen in their thirties, and a young couple. Except for the ladies, they were all people in trousers. (In France, aristocrats always wore tight trousers and stockings below the knee; Civilians wear long trousers. ）

A few people sat in the carriage, and there was nothing to do anyway, so they chatted casually.

"Father, you're going to Paris too?" A skinny businessman asked.

"I went to Notre Dame for some things." Brother Alfonso replied, "This is the godson of our bishop, who is going to Paris to take the entrance examination to the school of Louis the Great." I was on the same road with him and I happened to take him there. ”

"Ah, it's not easy to leave your hometown to study in Paris at such a young age." The skinny merchant said.

"It costs a lot of money to go to Paris to study." Another merchant said, "I'm afraid it's only a few hundred francs a year." ”

"It doesn't cost much to study at Louis the Great School itself." The husband of the young couple said, "The Louis the Great School has a high scholarship, but it requires a lot of students, the first is to have a recommendation from the church, and the second is to be able to pass the selection for admission. ”

Speaking of this, he turned to Joseph again and said, "Son, what subjects are you good at?" ”

Joseph replied, "I can read and write Latin, and I am very fond of mathematics and natural philosophy." ”

"Mathematics is the language in which God created the world. Natural philosophy is another way for us to draw closer to God. The young man said, "It's nice that you love these." ”

"There is only one way to get closer to God, and that is through the church, sir!" Alfonso said seriously.

"You're right." The skinny merchant quickly chimed in, drawing a cross on his chest at the same time.

"The Church and the Bible are, of course, the only way to get closer to God." The young man also quickly retracted his previous words, but he added a sentence a little unwillingly, "But isn't this world the work of God?" Admiration for the world is, in the final analysis, admiration for God. ”

"I like that statement." Joseph interjected.

Alfonso was about to say something more, but after hearing Joseph's words, he stopped talking.