War and Peace

Chapter 52

"Oh, is he here?" he went on, without finishing.In his mind, a series of memories appeared again.

Before sunrise, a dense burst of gunfire and shouting startled him from his sleep, and the Frenchmen ran wildly beside him.Bin-Air didn't understand what was happening in front of him for a long time. He didn't understand until he heard the excited cries of his companions around him, and wept bitterly among them.He didn't say a word, but hugged a soldier in front of him, crying and kissing him.

Roucourt stood at the door of a dilapidated house as a group of surrendered French soldiers walked past him.When he met the eyes of the passing captives, there was a chilling look in his eyes.

With a gloomy face, Jackoff took off his hat and followed a group of Cossack soldiers.They moved the body of Bigar Lostaff to the well dug in the garden.

[sixteen]
On October 28, winter came.Since then, the escape of the French army has been even more miserable.Many people were frozen to death or roasted to death by fire, while those in fancy dress and in carriages continued on with their looted treasures.Nothing had changed in the course of the French army's flight and collapse since leaving Moscow.

From Moscow to Vyazma, only 6000 of the [-] French troops remained (less than [-] of whom died in the war).Leaving Vyazma, the French army had changed from three columns into a chaotic mass, and this situation was maintained to the end.

People are walking forward, no one knows where they are going.The genius Napoleon understood less than others, because no one gave him orders.But he still maintains the original habit: draw up orders and issue reports.But these orders and reports are already on paper, and the soldiers are unwilling and will not do that.Although those around the emperor addressed him as "Your Majesty," they already felt that the emperor was nothing but a poor wretch who had done all kinds of bad things and was getting his reward.They pretended to care about the army, but in fact they only had themselves in their hearts, and they only thought about how to escape as quickly as possible.

[seventeen]
On the way back from Moscow to Neman, the actions of the Russian and French armies were like playing hide and seek.At first, Napoleon's army made known his place, which was the original situation on Kaluzhskaya Avenue.But later, when the troops came up the Smolensk Avenue, they ran with their bells in their hands, and people thought they ran away, but they kept running towards the Russian army.

One is running away, the other is chasing.West of Smolensk, the French had many routes to go.But after four days of rest, they ran forward again without any strategy or plan.They couldn't tell their bearings, but they walked along the most difficult road, which was the old road they were used to.Like playing hide-and-seek, the French encountered the Russian advance guard here.The French unexpectedly encountered the enemy and panicked.They froze with terror, then quickly abandoned their fellows who were overtaking them, and fled forward.

On the road from Orsha to Vilna, the French army was still playing hide-and-seek with the Russian army surrounding them.However, when they reached the Berezina River, it was a mess again.Many people fell into the river, many people surrendered, and those who crossed the river continued to flee.Their commander, in furs and in a sledge, left his soldiers alone and galloped forward alone.Those who can escape will flee, and those who cannot escape have only two fates: surrender or die.

[eighteen]
All the while the Frenchman was in flight, he did everything that would lead to his own destruction.This was true of every movement of the mob, from the turn around onto Kaluzhskaya Avenue to the desertion of the general.

Napoleon wore warm leather clothes, abandoned his companions who would die at any time, abandoned those who were brought here by him, and fled alone. He took it for granted because he thought he was a "great man".

But no one has time to think about admitting this kind of greatness that has no standard of good and evil, but admitting a kind of insignificance that is not worth mentioning.

To those who acquiesce to the Christ-given standard of good and evil, the immeasurable does not exist.Where there is simplicity, kindness, and truth, there is no greatness.

[nineteen]
Every Russian reads the account of the final phase of the War of [-] with indignation and bewilderment.

Since the Russian army, which was outnumbered by the French, could fight a Polagello at first, why, when it surrounded the enemy on three sides, failed to capture them and let them go?

When Russian military historians explained this strange phenomenon, they said that it was because Kotusov prevented the Russian army from attacking.There is no reason for this explanation, because the will of Kotusov could not prevent the army from fighting near Vyazma and Tanrutinlo.Russian historians have come to this conclusion by logical deduction. Although they have praised the heroism and loyalty, they must admit that the withdrawal of the French army from Moscow is all the victories of Napoleon and all the defeats of Kotusov. .

But when we look at this question apart from national pride, we feel that this conclusion contains a contradiction, because the victorious French army was afterwards completely destroyed, while the defeated Russian army gradually defeated the enemy and liberated the motherland.

This kind of historical record, which is far from the facts, is just the happy mood and speech process of the generals described by historians, not the historical process of events.

As long as the reports and plans are not discussed, but the actions of the hundreds of thousands of people who participated in the events themselves, the seemingly contradictory problems can suddenly be solved with great simplicity and ease.

The action of blocking Napoleon's army has almost never existed except in the fantasy of a dozen people.This purpose cannot exist because it has no meaning and it is impossible to achieve it.

The people have only one purpose: to win back their land.The role of the Russian army should be to drive away the whip of the beast.Experienced herders know that the best way to frighten a fleeing animal with a whip is to frighten it away, not to injure it.

Part [-]

[One]

People feel sad when they find an animal that is dying.In the face of the disappearance of life, apart from the feeling of grief, there is also the tearing of the internal organs and the pain of the spirit.This wound is like a wound on the body, it will be painful for a lifetime, and it will be afraid of irritating touch from the outside world.

After the death of Duke Andrele, Natssie and Princess Molière had this feeling.Depressed and disregarded for life, they vigilantly guard open wounds from painful touch.

But always talking with restraint, trying to avoid all possible references to him, this made what they sensed in their hearts more clearly revealed.

However, pure sadness is as impossible as pure happiness to coexist.Although Princess Molière felt it difficult to leave the lonely and contemplative world to which she was accustomed, and although she was ashamed to leave Natès, the affairs of life required her to yield, and she Decided to go to Moscow.

From the moment Princess Molière began to plan to leave, Natess kept avoiding her.

One day at the end of December, Natess was wearing a woolen dress, her hair was tied up in random knots, and she was sitting on the corner of the sofa with her legs curled up, looking blankly at the corner of the door.

She looked to the other side of his life where he had left.In the past, this other shore, which she had felt so far away, that she was hardly sure of its existence, seemed to her now more approachable than this shore of emptiness and disillusionment or sadness and humiliation in which she was standing. , is more understandable.

She looked where he had been.She discovered him again in Mytishchi, Troitz, Yaroslavl.She found his face, heard his voice, and she recounted their conversations with each other, associating and supplementing his words.A sweet sadness ran through her as she recalled the last night of Andréle, and tears suddenly flowed from her eyes, and she suddenly asked herself: Where is he now?What is his situation now?When her thoughts were ruthlessly interrupted by this confusion, she involuntarily looked in his direction again, as if she just wanted to solve a mystery.

Just when she felt that she was about to unravel the incomprehensible mystery, the maid Dunyasha rushed in with a flustered and desperate look.

[two]

Nates was now withdrawn from everyone, especially from the family.When she heard the news of Biga's unfortunate death, she didn't understand the meaning at all, but when she found her father and heard her mother's frightened and piercing cries, she immediately forgot herself and her sorrow.

"Mother! . . . my dearest mother! Here I am." She repeated the words in a low, rapid voice.Natess did not let go of her mother, she looked at her with tears in her eyes, her face was full of expressions begging for tolerance and love.

"My mother, mother," she kept saying, sharing with all her love the untold sorrows that weighed on her mother.

The mother struggled helplessly against reality, and she didn't know whether she could survive after the death of her beloved son. She escaped from the sadness of reality to the world of mental disorder.

Nates could no longer remember how the past few days passed.She did not rest, nor did she leave her mother.Her love, her longing for life and persistent calling, always surround the countess.On the third night, she finally cried for the first time.

[three]

Princess Molière postponed her trip.Martha and the count wanted to represent Natsex, but they could not, for only Natsex could save her mother from the mad despair.In this way, Natssie stayed by the countess for three weeks without leaving her footsteps.

There is no way to heal the countess' mental trauma, and Biga's death killed half of her life.When the news of Biga's death came, she was just a healthy and happy 50-year-old woman. One month later, she had become a sick old woman with no expectations for life.But it was the very wound that made the countess so sick that brought Natès back to life.

Nates thought her life was over, but her love for her mother made her finally understand that the essence of her life——love, still existed in her heart, and the call of love revived her life.

The unfinished days of the Duc d'Andrew's life had united Natès and the Duchess Molière, and this new misery had brought them closer together.Nates knew the pious and obedient life that she didn't know much about in the past, and understood the realm of Christian self-sacrifice that she didn't feel; and Princess Molière also felt another aspect of life that she didn't know before. On the one hand, that is to understand life and the joys in life.

Nates herself didn't know, and she didn't believe, that slender and thin grass had grown in the soil that she thought was impenetrable and covered her heart.The grass will grow strong, and with its vigorous foliage will cover the sorrow that torments her, and soon subdue it.In her body, the wound has slowly healed.

At the end of January, Princess Molière went to Moscow.The count asked Nates to go to Moscow with her for medical treatment.

[Four]

At Vyazma, Kotusov could not prevent his army from attacking and isolating the enemy.After the clash at Vyazma, there was not a single engagement between the fleeing French and the pursuing Russians.

The hasty pursuit cost the Russians as much as the fleeing French.

Kotusov, not by brains or scholarship, but by his instinct as a Russian, sensed what every Russian soldier suffered, that the French had failed, that they were fleeing, that they were being driven out.But he also felt how difficult it is to march in such a season.But the generals, especially the foreign generals, the generals who want to show off and to surprise, just think it's a few battles when all these battles are boring and pointless. opportunity.

When the two armies collide, the idea of ​​showing off, fighting guerrilla warfare, and interdicting the enemy's forces becomes crucial.Driven by their own passions, these are the blind instruments of the most bleak inevitability.But they feel that they are heroes, that they are doing the most admirable and honorable thing.

[five]

In [-] and [-] Kotusov was accused of mistakes.But in the war of [-], from his beginning to the end, from Polagello to Werner, he never acted contrary to his original intention, he was always the greatest self that ever lived The paragon of sacrifice and insight for all.It is impossible to imagine such a historical figure with consistent activities and goals, and it is impossible to imagine such a valuable and consistent leadership.A historical figure like Kotusov, who did everything he could to achieve his goal and finally achieved that goal, could not be found in [-], and it is even more difficult to find in all history.

This Kotusov, whose motto is "tolerance and time," this man who disapproved of decisive action, rigorously prepared and conducted the battle of Polagello; it was he who, before the battle of Austerlitz, fought and at Polagello, when the generals thought the battle was a defeat, it was he who dissented from them all, and felt that the battle of Polagello was a victory until his death.He was the only one who insisted not to fight a useless war and not to cross the frontiers of Russia when the French army retreated.This man has an extraordinary ability to see through phenomena, and the root of this ability is his very simple and strong national feelings.This chaste, humble, and therefore truly great character cannot be measured by the imagined and fancied model of the European hero.

There are no great people in the minds of servants, because they have their own perception of greatness.

[six]

November [-]th can be said to pay attention to it, so it is the first day of the Battle of Karashroy.After many quarrels with the generals, having realized that a battle was impossible, Kotusov moved away from Kalashlye, and his headquarters moved to Dobroye these days.

The weather is dry.Kotusov rode on a strong white horse, followed by a group of disaffected and whispering generals.Along the way was a group of French prisoners (about 7000 prisoners on this day) warming around a campfire.

Coming up to a group of Russian soldiers, Kotusov stopped.Expected by the soldiers, he delivered his speech, and amidst the silence his slow words were audible:
"Thank you everyone! Thank you for your loyalty and outstanding dedication. This is a complete victory. Russia cannot forget you. The glory belongs to you!" Suddenly, his expression and voice changed, as if he were an ordinary old man speaking , not the commander-in-chief: "Everyone knows that the current situation is very difficult, but there is no way but to tolerate it. It won't be too long, and you can rest for a while after seeing off the guests. You are difficult, but you are still on your own after all. But they are no match for the poorest beggars. We did not pity them when they were strong, but we can pity them now. They are human beings, aren't they?"

"But then again, we didn't invite them here. These beasts deserve their punishment..."

The soldiers may not have understood Kotusov's words, but the sincere words, the great and strong emotion shown in a kind of tolerant scolding, moved them immensely, and they responded with fierce and persistent expressions. Applause and cheers expressed the sentiment.

[seven]

On the [-]th, the last day of the Battle of Karashloy.The army entered the camp in the evening, and there was fine snow in the quietly cold sky. The dim starry sky was clearly visible through the snowflakes, and the weather became even colder.

(End of this chapter)