Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

In April, the good news of the king's arrival in the army made the army very excited.The monarch held a military parade at Battenstein, but Rostov was not present; the Paulgrad corps was stationed at an outpost far from Battenstein in front. They are camping.Denisov and Rostov lived in earthen kilns dug for them by soldiers and covered with branches and turf.The earthen kiln was built in the fashion of the time: a ditch was dug—one and a half arzinjas wide, two arzinjas deep, and three and a half arzinjas long.One end of the ditch is made into rungs, which are the ramps and steps, and the ditch itself is a room: in the room of the lucky man (like the captain of the cavalry company), at the other end opposite the rung, there is a plank resting on some stakes , which is the table.Along the sides of the ditch, a cubic arshin of soil was dug up, and these were the two beds and the couch.The roof of the kiln should be so high that a person can stand up in the kiln, and if he puts his body close to one end of the table, he can even sit up on the bed. Denisov lived a good life, because the soldiers in the company Everyone loves him.The gable of the kiln roof is a plank of wood with a broken but glued piece of glass embedded in it.When the weather is very cold, people scoop up red-hot coals from the soldiers' bonfire with bent iron pieces and place them in front of the ladder (Denisov called this part of the kiln the reception room). It was getting warmer, and Denisov and Rostov were always surrounded by officers, and they all felt warm, just sitting there in a shirt.

During April, Rostov was on duty.At around seven o'clock in the morning, he came back after a sleepless night, ordered to bring the red-hot charcoal fire, changed a set of rain-soaked clothes, prayed to God, drank enough tea, and warmed himself by the fire , tidying up his own corner and the things on the table, then he put on a shirt, lay down on his back, put his hands under his head, and showed a face roughened by the weather.While thinking happily that he would be promoted in a few days because of his latest spot reconnaissance, he waited for Denisov who was going somewhere.Rostov wanted to talk to him.

Denisov's intermittent shouts can be heard outside the kiln. He is clearly losing his temper. Rostov moves to the window to see who he is dealing with. (Ref. Bruno Powell and his companions) ".The first book co-written by Marx and Engels, he saw Topchenko, chief of the cavalry company. "I have ordered you not to let them eat the sweet root, what is it called masa sweet root!" cried Denisov. "I saw Razachuk bring this sweet root from the fields with my own eyes." "My lord, they didn't listen to my orders." The chief of the cavalry company replied.

Rostov was lying on his bed again, thinking happily: "Now let him dawdle, let him do his work, I'll finish my work, and lie on the bed—it's wonderful!" Apart from the sergeant of the cavalry company taking a certain doctrine as dogma and declaring it certain without self-reflection, and the voice of Lavrushka, a shrewd and somewhat cunning footman— Denisov's footman.For some reason he was telling how he had seen carts, rusks, and bulls when he was out looking for food. From outside the kiln came Denisov's shouts and words, which were fading into the distance: "Saddle up, second row!"

"Where are you going?" Rostov thought about it. Five minutes later, Denisov walked into the earthen kiln of the temporary building. His legs were covered with mud, but he still climbed onto the bed and finished smoking a bag of cigarettes angrily. "Germany, law but no skill", Shen Buhui "de", threw his own things around, put a horsewhip in his waist, wore a saber, and walked out of the kiln. Rostov asked: "Where are you going?" went? ’ he replied angrily and vaguely, saying something. "Let God and the King judge me!" Denisov said as he came out of the kiln, and outside the kiln Rostov heard some horses pattering along the dirt road.Rostov did not even want to know where Denisov was riding.After warming his own corner, he fell asleep, and did not get up until late in the evening to leave the kiln.Denisov has not returned yet.At dusk the sky cleared.Two officers and a cadet were playing nail-throwing beside a neighboring kiln.They laughed and cut the radishes in the loose soil.Rostov also joined them.In the middle of the game, the officers saw several carts approaching them, followed by about fifteen hussars on scrawny horses.The wagons escorted by some hussars approached the mooring posts, and a group of hussars surrounded the wagons.

"You see, Denisov is still very sad," said Rostov, "the rations have arrived." "Sure enough!" said the officers, "how happy the soldiers are!" Not far behind the hussars, Denisov rode up, accompanied by two infantry officers, and Denisov rode up. Husband was talking about something with them.Rostov came towards him. "Captain, I want to warn you." An officer said, this man was thin and short, and looked sullen. "You know I told you not to hand it over," Denisov replied. "You are in charge, Captain, this is a tool for tyranny—to rob our own people! Our people haven't eaten food for two days."

"And mine hasn't had food for two weeks," Denisov answered. "Your Excellency, this is robbery, and you are responsible!" repeated the infantry officer, raising his voice. "But why are you pestering me? Huh?" Denisov was furious, and shouted loudly, "I am responsible, not you. Don't babble here, you'd better go away! ' he shouted to the officers. "Okay!" the little officer shouted loudly without hesitation or going away, "robbery, I'll let you know..." "You're fine, go away, go to hell." Denisov turned his horse to the officer.

"All right, all right," said the officer menacingly, and he tossed himself into the saddle and galloped off at a gallop. "Dogs on the slats, live dogs on the slats," Denisov said behind him in the most vicious words of cavalrymen mocking mounted infantry.He galloped up to Rostov and burst out laughing. "You took it from the infantry, you took the transporter by force!" he said. "Why, you won't starve to death, will you?" The wagons that were approaching the hussars were for the infantry regiment, and Denisov, having learned from Lavrushka that the transport was traveling alone, led the hussars to seize it.They distributed quite a lot of rusks to the soldiers, and they even shared a good meal with other companies.

The next day Denisov was summoned by the regimental commander, who, covering his eyes with his fingers, said to him: "I have this opinion about the matter: I don't know anything, I'm not going to deal with it, But I would like to advise you to go to the headquarters and handle this matter at the ration management office. If possible, you must sign a letter certifying how much rations you have received. Otherwise, you have to write it on the account of the infantry regiment. , will lead to litigation, and the result may be very unfavorable." Denisov went straight from the regimental commander to headquarters, and faithfully followed his advice.At night he returned to his kiln in a manner that Rostov had never seen his friend show.Denisov could not speak or catch his breath.Rostov asked him what was the matter, and he only swore and threatened in a hoarse, feeble voice.

Rostov was taken aback by Denisov's embarrassment, told him to undress, drink some water, and sent for a doctor. "Judge me for robbery, alas! Give me some more water. Let them judge. But I will, I will beat these scumbags forever, and I will tell the king. Give me some ice," he said . Physicians from the Corps who came to treat the patients said that they needed bloodletting.A deep dish of black blood flowed from Denisov's hairy arm, and only on this occasion could he tell all that had happened to him. "Here I am," Denisov said. "Hey, where is your officer here?" They pointed it out to me.Just wait for a while, okay?I have a mission, I have come thirty versts away, I don't have time to wait, you report.Well, the thief king has come out, and he wants to teach me a lesson: this is robbery!I say that the robbers are not the ones who feed the soldiers with rations, but the ones who stuff the rations into their own pockets! ’ Well, he said, ‘you go to the attorney and sign it, but your case will be forwarded to your superiors. 'I went to the agent.As soon as I walked in, who was sitting at the table... Who was it?Think about it! . . . Who is starving us?" cried Denisov, clenched his patient's fist, and struck the table so hard that it almost fell over, leaving the teacups on the table He jumped up from the blow, "Telyanin! 'What, are you starving us? 'That time I slapped him on the mouth, it was so neat...'Ah, no good guy...' So I pushed him down and made him roll around!It was a good beating, so to speak," cried Denisov, showing his white teeth cheerfully and fiercely under his black beard. "I would have beaten him to death if they hadn't dragged me away. . "

"Why do you keep yelling? Be quiet," said Rostov. "Look, it's bleeding again. Wait a minute, and it needs to be bandaged again." Denisov's wounds were redressed and he was put to bed.When he woke up the next day, he was at peace and looked very happy. But at noon, a regimental adjutant came to the common kiln of Denisov and Rostov with a serious and sad face, and with great regret produced an official letter from the regimental commander to Major Denisov , when it comes to investigating yesterday’s incident, the adjutant informed that the case will definitely deteriorate sharply. At present, a military court has been set up to impose severe sanctions on the army’s robbery and rampage. Close this case. From the point of view of the aggrieved, the case went like this: Major Denisov, after stealing the transport truck, was very drunk, went to the chairman of the ration management committee without summons, abused him as a thief, and threatened to fight, Someone dragged him out, and he broke into the office, beat up two officials, and dislocated one of his hands. In answering Rostov's repeated questions, Denisov laughed and said that someone was sprained, but that was all nonsense, nonsense, he would never have thought of being afraid of any court, if these If the despicable guy dared to touch a hair on him, he would take revenge and let them always remember how great he was. Although Denisov spoke of the case contemptuously, Rostov knew too well to fail to notice that he was inwardly afraid of the courts, and that he was tormented by a case whose consequences were clearly unfavorable, but he kept it secret from others. Just know.Investigation documents and subpoenas were sent every day. On May 1, the chief ordered Denisov to hand over the cavalry company to an officer one level lower than him, and then went to the division headquarters to explain his rampant behavior in the ration management committee. .The day before, Platov had conducted a spot reconnaissance of the enemy with two Cossack regiments and two hussar companies.As usual, Denisov galloped ahead of the skirmisher line, showing off his bravery and determination.A bullet from French infantry hit him in the thigh.Perhaps at other times Denisov would not have left the regiment with such a minor injury, but now he took this opportunity not to go to the division headquarters, but to a field hospital.