The Fox of France

 Adhering to this principle, after that, Joseph adopted a policy with Mara's eccentric discussions, not only not opposing but even praising them.

However, anything is easier said than done. Deciding to follow the policy of "agree with him, encourage him, and cultivate him into a great know-it-all" is not difficult, but going against your own conscience to support a rather absurd perspective is truly uncomfortable. Joseph even remembered a joke he had heard in his previous life about the Republic-era poet Zhang Zongchang.

It was said that General Zhang compiled a collection of his own poems (such as the masterpiece that went, "Great Bright Lake, Bright Lake Great, On Great Bright Lake, there are lotus flowers, and on the lotus flowers, there are toads. Poke one, and it leaps."). He then sought out an old scholar to have him appraise it. This old man, unaware that Zhang Zongchang was the author, read the poems and blurted out, "Incomprehensible nonsense!"

General Zhang, upon hearing this, was furious: "Dare you call my poems 'incomprehensible nonsense'? I think you're looking for trouble! Guards, take this old man away and execute him!"

The old man, realizing he was in deep trouble, quickly knelt down and begged, "General, General, my eyesight is failing, I didn't see it clearly earlier... Let me take another look..."

Zhang Zongchang let the guards release the old man temporarily and, patting the small cannon at his waist, said, "Old man, you'd better look carefully this time!"

The old man carefully read Zhang's poetry collection twice and then sighed, put down the collection, and stood up, saying to Zhang Zongchang, "General, you should have me taken away and executed."

Now, Joseph couldn't help but think that he wanted to say something similar to Mara, who was spouting nonsense.

Fortunately, Danton seemed to have a rather dismissive attitude toward Mara, so he stepped forward to argue with him. This led Mara to spare Joseph, focusing his energy on debating with Danton.

Armand introduced Joseph to the others, explaining that Joseph was a rising star in science and had a keen eye for art. He mentioned that some of Joseph's suggestions had even influenced his unfinished work, "Spartacus."

So, they all engaged in conversation. When young French people gathered, their discussions typically revolved around women or politics. Joseph was surprised to find that the future Jacobin leaders (excluding the most famous one, Robespierre) present at the meeting didn't have extremely radical political views at this time.

Mara advocated for constitutional monarchy - probably influenced by his time studying in England. Danton, on the other hand, was more conservative, believing in an enlightened monarchy, aligning his views with those of Voltaire. Louis leaned more towards Mara's views but seemed to have a particular dislike for him. Their host, Abel, didn't seem to care much about the specific political system. He was more concerned with protecting the rights of the common people.

In reality, there was almost only one person who supported a republic, and that was Orléans, albeit not very firmly. In his view, if a republic couldn't be established, a constitutional monarchy was an acceptable alternative. In general, if they were suddenly transported a few years into the future, they would undoubtedly be labeled "counter-revolutionaries" and face the guillotine or even being hung from lampposts.

"It's normal that they're relatively moderate now. In fact, at this time, even the most radical young people are only this radical," Joseph thought to himself. "So the Duke of Orléans and his associates think they can use these people and their spark in the powder keg to propel themselves to the throne. They don't realize that once the fire starts burning, the situation may become uncontrollable. They are playing with fire."

Handling such gatherings was not too difficult for Joseph. He had come from the future, where he had seen a plethora of political theories, systems, and experiments. Dealing with these immature future leaders was not a problem. His casual ideas inspired these young men, even making the usually stoic Louis exclaim, "There are actually people as talented as Bonaparte in the world."

Initially, Joseph was somewhat hesitant about accepting Armand's invitation to attend these gatherings with the "radicals." These individuals had a tendency to lose their heads during the impending revolution, figuratively and literally. Being too involved with these dangerous elements could indeed be perilous. However, considering that the great revolution was inevitable, not knowing these radical figures and having no association with them would be equally dangerous. So, Joseph decided that he must engage with these people, but with some distance. He needed to maintain a favorable impression without getting too entangled in political struggles.

In general, Joseph felt that his performance was quite good. Even Mara's attitude toward him improved after Joseph handed over the study of color blindness and the honor that came with the discovery to him. Although Mara continued to use a habitual mix of praise and criticism in his speech, Joseph felt that Mara didn't hold much malice toward him.

In this era, outstanding scientists were somewhat akin to ancient Chinese Confucian scholars. While they might not wield political power, associating with such individuals was an honorable endeavor. So, everyone sincerely invited Joseph to attend their gatherings more frequently. However, this didn't align with Joseph's plans. Therefore, he had to apologize to everyone, explaining that he wished to attend their gatherings but was currently engrossed in an important mathematical problem.

"Mr. Bonaparte, what kind of problem have you encountered?" Mara was particularly interested.

Joseph raised his hands and said, "This problem may sound simple, but it becomes quite complicated when you delve into it. Perhaps, I need a spark of inspiration to tackle it. Well, a student mentioned to me that it seems that all maps can be colored using only four colors to differentiate different regions. However, he doesn't know how to mathematically prove it. I found this problem quite intriguing at the time, and it didn't seem too difficult. I attempted to prove it, but so far, I've made no progress."

This problem was the famous "Four Color Theorem," considered one of the four great unsolved problems of mathematics in Joseph's future time. It sounded simple, and even a child could understand it. However, proving it was incredibly challenging. Even in Joseph's time, it took the use of electronic computers to confirm the theorem after performing around a hundred billion individual checks. In this era, it was almost an unsolvable problem.

Joseph brought up this problem partly as an excuse, and partly to bait the pseudo-scientific Mara. Usually, problems that sounded easy and could be solved with a spark of inspiration were the kind that pseudo-scientists loved.

As expected, Mara immediately became interested in the problem. "Is this problem difficult?"

"Yes, it's quite difficult. In my opinion, its difficulty is on par with cubing the cube, squaring the circle, and trisecting an angle. I've already presented this problem to the Academy of Sciences and suggested that if no one can prove it in a short time, we should make it a public problem and offer a reward."

Mara's eyes lit up with excitement. He took out a notebook and a pen and said, "Mr. Bonaparte, could you please repeat the problem?"

...

Using this excuse, Joseph could maintain a certain distance from these individuals. Besides, apart from Napoleon, both of his brothers were with him now, and he needed to focus more on their education.

Louis was still very young, not even ten, so it was too early to give him specialized training. However, Lucien had already begun to display some talent in public speaking and the arts. Joseph, not being a history enthusiast in his past life, didn't know that Lucien had once been the President of the "Five Hundred People Society" during the events leading to Napoleon's rise to power. But since Lucien had already shown promise in these areas, encouraging him in this direction seemed like a good idea.

"In the future, Napoleon will be devoted to the military. As for me, I'll ensure the family's good name and the overall direction of French development. The greatest advantage of time travelers lies in knowing the broad course of history, right? As for Lucien, if he has a talent for oratory and the arts, he can handle public relations and propaganda in the future. In a way, a rose is also a weapon of war."

Joseph didn't have much connection with the world of art, so he had to rely on Armand for many aspects of this plan. However, he was concerned about Armand's lifestyle. Lucien was at a critical stage in forming his values, and having him learn from Armand was... Well, Armand's company had improved somewhat recently after mingling with those radical elements, so that was a relief.