War and Peace

Chapter 50

In the ruined Moscow, Bin-Air completely experienced the extreme hardship that human beings can bear, but it was also at this time that he got the inner peace and satisfaction that he had never had before in his life.This feeling was something he had been looking for for a long time before but never got.In philanthropy, in Masons, in society and drinking, in self-sacrifice and love for Natès, he had sought this peace and harmony, and he had sought it in reason. A feeling, but all efforts failed.He did not expect that the fear of death, the helplessness of life, and this Karatayev gave him such a feeling of peace and harmony.

The terrible process of execution washed away forever the thoughts and emotions that he used to think were important and often disturbed him.He no longer thought of Russia, war, or politics, nor Napoleon.

Bin-Air's calm and indifferent mental state was further strengthened because he was respected and admired by his companions in a short time after entering the shed.Those traits in him that were looked down upon by his original circle of life, such as vigor, ignorance of a comfortable life, carelessness and simplicity of character, are here regarded as what a hero should be.And so Bin-Air began to take responsibility for this respect.

[Thirteen]
On the night of October [-]th and [-]th, the French retreated.They tore down stoves and woodsheds, and the convoys, full of soldiers and luggage, withdrew.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the French guards, wearing tall hats, carrying guns and bags, had already lined up in front of the wooden shed; chatter mixed with curses was shouted from each queue.

Bin-Air wore shoes that Karatayev had made for him from the leather heels of French soldiers, and they were tied with ropes around his waist.He came up in front of a sick prisoner and crouched down.

The face of the warden with a sudden change of expression, his voice and the drumbeats one after another made Bin-Air feel once again the fearful and mysterious power that he felt before the execution, that he lost his mind and dared to slaughter his own kind. is working.It is useless to fear and escape from this power, or to plead and persuade these people who have this power, but to be patient and wait.At last Bin-Air left the invalid, and stood silent at the door of the shed.

After passing the fire scene, the prisoners let out screams.Passing a church in Khamovnik, Moscow's apparently unfired district, the captives uttered "Oops" and quickly moved aside.

Hearing the cry, Bin-Air also went towards the church.On the side of the church wall, leaning against the wall was a flickering thing, and the companion who saw it clearly said that it was a standing corpse, whose face was still smeared with charcoal.

[fourteen]
When they got to the bridge, people didn't leave, they were waiting for the people in front to pass first.In front of and behind the captives were countless convoys marching.

After entering the Crimean Shoal, the prisoners continued to walk a few steps forward, and there were more people and vehicles.The group of prisoners had walked for more than an hour, and had just stepped from the bridge onto Kaluzhskaya Boulevard.On the square where every street of the Moskva River district meets Kaluzhskaya Avenue, the prisoners stopped.They huddled together and waited for several hours here.The sound of wheels, footsteps, shouts and curses all around.

Ever since he realized that the mysterious and terrifying force was at work, Bin-air was no longer surprised or afraid of anything.The blacked-out corpses, the women running blindly, and the fires everywhere in Moscow left no impression on him, as if his soul was fighting for some difficult task, because he refused everything. disturbance.

The women's car drove away, followed by carts, lorries, ammunition carts and soldiers.In Bin Air's mind, what he saw was not a person at all, but the flow of people and cars.

All people and chariots are always being driven by a force.They walked tirelessly and didn't stop until the sun went down.Luggage carts gathered one after another, and people began to prepare for the night.

All the people stopped in the fields beside the road.In the cold autumn night, they were all shrouded in an unhappy mood, because they already felt that this kind of hurried journey was meaningless.It was clear to everyone that their itinerary had no goal, and they didn't know how many difficulties and obstacles lay ahead.

During the break, the attitude of the escort team towards the prisoners became even more despicable.For the first time they distributed horsemeat to captives.Every officer and even every soldier now harbored hostility towards the captives, and the previous friendly attitude was replaced by surprise.

Bin-Air sat cross-legged alone on the cold ground beside the wheels of a harnessed wagon.He lowered his head and thought, more than an hour passed, and no one came to disturb him.Suddenly, he laughed wildly, and his honesty and kindness were revealed in his laughter.He looked up at the night sky, gazing at the twinkling stars. "It's all mine, it's in my heart, it's me. But they took it all and locked it in the shed!" He thought, walking towards his companions in the shed.

[fifteen]
At the beginning of October, another courier brought a letter from Napoleon requesting peace talks. He falsely claimed that the letter was mailed from Moscow. In fact, Napoleon was not far from Kotusov at that time.As in reply to other similar letters, Kotusov said peace talks were a fantasy.

On the premise that Kotusov thought it unnecessary to launch any attack, he chose a compromise method: do what should be done at the moment.He sent a small force to Fominsk to attack Brussier.

On October [-], Dokhturov stopped in the village of Aristovo on his way to Fominsk.He intends to carry out his mission strictly.On this day, the entire French army arrived at Murat's position in a panic retreat. They seemed to be ready to fight, but suddenly they went to the new Kaluzhiskaya road and advanced into the Fuzhou where Brussier was stationed. Minsk.Dokhturov took no further action because he had not yet received further orders.He was ordered to attack Fominsk, but now Fominsk is not only stationed in Brussier's division, but all French troops.Ermolov wanted to act on his own ideas, but Dohturov insisted on waiting for the commander-in-chief's order.So they sent officer Borhovidinov to send the information to the General Headquarters.

[sixteen]
It is a dark and cool autumn night.Borkhovittinov changed horses twice and ran thirty versts on dirt roads soaked in light rain that persisted for more than four days.He arrived at Letashevka just after one o'clock in the morning.He dismounted and walked through the dimly lit hallway in front of the farmhouse with the "General Headquarters" sign on the fence.

"What's the matter? Who sent it?" Konovnitsyn, the general on duty, asked calmly and hastily, his eyes blinking constantly under the bright light.After listening to Borhovitinov's report, he opened the official document and read it.As soon as he had finished reading, he put on his boots and took off his nightcap.

Konovnitsyn immediately realized the importance of the news and he could not delay.He didn't study whether the news was good or bad, he had no interest in it.He didn't face this war with wisdom, with reasoning, but with a deep thought in his heart, that is, he decided that everything would be fine.He didn't think it was necessary to say that, he was just doing his job as best he could.

[seventeen]
Like all old people, Kotusov did not sleep much at night.He always dozes off during the day, but at night he often lies on the bed with his clothes on, and most of the time he can't fall asleep.

That's what he is at the moment.Lying on the bed, his pensive head resting on his fat hand, he was thinking, and his open eye was looking at a place in the darkness.

Since writing to the emperor, Bennigsen, the most powerful in the general staff, began to evade him, and Kotusov felt much more at ease, because he and his troops were no longer being bullied into pointless attacks.He thought that the lessons of the Battle of Tanrudinlo would remind them.

"They should know that when we attack, the only result is failure. Patience and time are my soldiers!" he thought.

On the night of October eleventh he was lying in bed thinking about it.The footsteps of Thor, Konovnitsyn, and Borhovittinov were heard in the next room.Borhovittinov repeated his information.After the narration, Borhovitinov stepped aside and waited for instructions.Thor was about to say something, but Kotusov stopped him.He tried to speak, but quickly narrowed his eyes again, waved Thor, and turned his face to the corner of the wall opposite the door. "Lord! My Creator! Our prayers have been answered...Russia is saved. Lord, thank you!" He clasped his hands, wept, and his voice kept shaking.

[eighteen]
Kotusov's chief activity, since he received the news of the withdrawal of the French from Moscow, was to use his power and his position to prevent endless wars and all conflicts with the dying enemy.Kotusov retreated everywhere, but the enemy turned back and fled before he could retreat.

This army has begun to crumble.After the battle of Smolensk and the looting of Moscow, the army itself developed elements of disintegration.The soldiers of the army fled together with their commanders. They didn't know the target ahead, but they all looked forward to one thing, which was to escape from the perceived danger as soon as possible.

Napoleon's consent to the withdrawal of the army did not imply that he had given the order, but that the same force that had worked on the army also worked on Napoleon.

[nineteen]
For the French army retreating along the old Smolensk road, the only destination of the motherland was too far away, so the desire to come to Smolensk, the nearest destination, was growing rapidly among the crowd.Not because the people knew that there would be sufficient supplies and men at Smolensk, but because this expectation would give them the strength to push forward and endure hardship.

Once the French army was on the road, they advanced with infinite strength and speed to their expected goal.In addition to the common expectation that made them form a whole, it was also because of their large number that the Russian army could not and could not stop this large-scale and rapid movement.

No matter what efforts Kotusov made, the Russian army continued to attack the French army and tried their best to block their way.It is said that in a blocking battle, although thousands of French troops were wiped out, the Russian army also lost thousands of people at the same time.

There is no way to cut off the enemy's army. On the contrary, the French army hugged tighter in the face of difficulties.They kept running along the road of destruction to Smolensk, reducing their numbers along the way.

The third part

[One]

All historians agree that war is the outward activity of conflict between states and peoples.The outcome of a war enables a country or nation to increase or decrease its strength to varying degrees.

Events during the period of the Battle of Polagello in [-] and the retreat of the French army show that victorious wars are not always the cause of conquest, nor are they the permanent mark of conquest; In the hands of the opponent, he does not control the army and the battle, but depends on other factors.

Let us use an analogy, if two fencers are fighting according to the rules, and after a long fight, one of the opponents feels that he has been hurt, he gives up the sword, picks up the stick and swings it.From the time of the burning of Smolensk, the war deviated from all the traditions of the old wars.The destruction of cities and villages, the retreat after a battle, the defeat of Polagello, the fire of Moscow, the capture of robbers, the interception of transport vehicles, and later guerrilla warfare, all were against the norm.Although the French believed that their opponents did not play by the rules, and although respectable people in Russia were ashamed of their countrymen for fighting with clubs, the clubs of the national war were taken with might and force.It fell clumsily and simply, accurately and timely, on the French army, without regard to taste or principle, until they were all wiped out.

[two]

There is an action that deviates from the rules of war that is more advantageous, and that is to use a dispersed crowd to attack a huddled crowd. This attack is called guerrilla warfare.Not only does it not conform to all laws, but it also contradicts the accepted infallible law of tactics.

Military historians often find examples of small armies defeating large armies in instances of warfare, and they are forced to acquiesce that there is an unknown factor at play in warfare.

This unknown factor is morale, which is the will to fight and the desire to take risks that inspire the entire army. The extent of this factor does not depend on whose leadership the soldiers are under, how they form up, and what weapons they use to fight.The person with the most fighting spirit will always put himself in a particularly favorable position.

In the war of [-], according to the usual rules, the retreating French army should disperse their defenses, but they huddled together, because their morale had been so low that they could only maintain the army by huddling together.According to the general tactics, the Russians should also gather their troops to attack massively, but they were adjusted to a small group, because the morale has been so high that everyone can't wait to fight, and their fearlessness and sacrifice are completely voluntary. .

[three]

On August 24, Davydov's first guerrilla unit was formed, and other guerrilla units followed.The further the campaign progresses, the more rapidly will the number of such guerrillas increase.

The end of October is the period of the most rapid guerrilla warfare.On October 22, guerrilla Jackoff and his friends were in the mood for guerrilla warfare.Early in the morning, they started to move.He spent the whole day in the woods near the road watching the convoy escorted by the French army and the Russian prisoners.According to scouts and captured prisoners, this separate detachment was heading for Smolensk.Jackoff did not report to his superiors, so he decided to use his own small force to attack and capture the convoy together with Rucourt.

In front of Shamshevo village, Rukot also observed the main road. There were about 500 people in the transport team, and Jackoff had 200 people. Husband stopped moving.For safety reasons, Jackoff sent a peasant guerrilla, Jiehuo, to the nearby village of Shamshevo to catch a "tongue".

[Four]

It was a warm rainy day in autumn, and the sky and the ground looked hazy, foggy, and torrential rain.

Jackoff looked listless from the rain and hunger (they hadn't eaten all day).There is no news from Rucourt, and the person sent to catch the "tongue" has not returned.Jackoff looked ahead, hoping that Rucourt's messenger would appear immediately. He thought, "There will be no chance like today. It would be too risky to attack alone. If we wait until tomorrow, the spoils of war will pass from our hands to others." Gone to the guerrillas."

Suddenly, Jackoff shouted to the Cossack captain: "Look, there is a man on horseback ahead."

"Two men on horseback—an officer and a Cossack. Not sure if it was the colonel himself," said the Cossack captain.

The officer who came forward was Bigar Lostaff.All the way, he was thinking about how to behave like a grown-up and an officer, and what attitude he should use to meet Jackoff without revealing that they knew each other.But when Jackoff smiled at him, he immediately cheered up, and without remembering the officer airs he wanted to put on, began to describe how he passed the Frenchman, how excited he was to get the assignment, Talk about the battle of Vyazma that he participated in.

"Can I stay with your subordinates?" Biga asked Jackoff.Jackoff agreed to his request and took him to investigate the French position where the attack would be launched tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)