Chapter 3 third chapter

The Russian emperor was already living in Vilna at this time, and had been inspecting and reviewing the military exercises for more than a month.This war, which everyone had expected, and for which the Emperor had come from Petersburg, had made no preparations for it, had not laid down a general plan of action.He was hesitant about which of all the proposed plans should be chosen, and he was still more hesitant after a month of the Emperor's visit to the base camp.Each of the three armies had its own commander-in-chief, but the commander-in-chief who commanded all the armies did not, and the emperor himself did not hold that title.

The longer the Kaiser lived in Vilna, the less prepared the people were for the war that was tiresome to wait for.It turned out that all the people around the emperor did was to make the emperor happy and make him forget about the war he was facing. After many great balls and celebrations by Polish dignitaries, courtiers, and the Emperor himself, in June it occurred to one of the Emperor's Polish aide-de-camps to organize a banquet and a ball for the Emperor on behalf of (in the name of) his aide-de-camp .The proposal was happily accepted by all, and the Emperor agreed.The military attachés raised the required funds according to the list of pledges.A woman most favored by the emperor is invited to be the hostess of a ball.Count Bennigsen, a landowner in the province of Vilna, offered his own country house for the celebration, so that, on June 13, it was held in Zakret, Count Bennigsen's suburban estate. Balls, banquets, boat races, and fireworks were settled.

On the same day Napoleon gave the order to cross the Niemen, and his vanguard drove back the Cossacks and crossed the Russian border, while Alexander celebrated that day at a great ball in Bennigsen's field at a great ball given for him by his aide-de-camp. night. It was a joyful and splendid festival indeed; experts say it is rare to see so many beauties in one place.Countess Bezukhova, one of the Russian ladies who accompanied the emperor from Petersburg to Vilna, also attended the ball, eclipsing the lithe Polish ladies with her gigantic figure, which was hailed as the beauty of Russia, She was so outstanding that even the emperor danced with her.

Boris Drubetskoy, a self-proclaimed bachelor (engarcon) who had left his wife in Moscow, also attended the ball, and although he was not an aide-de-camp, he also pledged a large sum of money for the ball .Now that Boris had become a prominent rich man, he no longer needed to seek refuge, but was on an equal footing with those noble contemporaries. At midnight, people were still dancing.Helen did not have a suitable partner, so she invited Boris to dance a mazurka.They choose a third couple.Boris looked indifferently at Helen's bright bare shoulders protruding from the gold-embroidered black sand gown, and talked about his old acquaintances. At the same time, neither he nor others noticed that he was not observing the same hall the emperor.The emperor did not dance, but he stood by the door, and from time to time called to some dancers, and spoke to them kind words that only he could have spoken.

At the beginning of the mazurka, Boris saw Balashov, the aide-de-camp, one of the emperor's closest confidants, approaching the emperor, who, in violation of court rules, stopped near the emperor, who was talking to a Polish lady.The Emperor spoke a few words to the lady, and looked at him suspiciously, as if he understood that Balashov could only have important reasons for what he did.He nodded slightly to the lady, and turned to Balashov.As soon as Balashev began to speak, the emperor's face showed surprise.He took Balashov's hand and walked with him through the hall, the people on both sides involuntarily making way for them a path about three yards wide.Boris noticed that Arakcheyev had a look of uneasiness on his face as the emperor passed by with Balashev.Arakcheyev frowned at the emperor, snorted from time to time, and squeezed out of the crowd, as if expecting the emperor to notice him.Boris understood that Arakcheyev was jealous of Balashev and was dissatisfied that the important news, though important, had passed through him to the emperor.

But the emperor, with Balashev on his arm, paid no attention to Arakcheyev, and they passed through the exit of the hall into the brightly lit garden.Arakcheyev held his saber in his hand, looked around him angrily, and followed them for more than twenty steps.Boris, on the other hand, went on dancing the mazurka for a few more rounds, wondering what news Balashov had brought, and how he had heard it before anyone else. At the moment when he was supposed to choose a partner, he whispered to Helene that he would like to ask Miss Potockaya to dance, and the lady seemed to have gone to the balcony, and then his feet slipped across the parquet floor and into the passage. Running to the garden gate, he saw the Emperor and Balashov going to the terrace, and stood there for a while.The emperor and Balashov approached the door together.As if there was no time to escape, Boris hastily leaned against the door frame respectfully and bowed his head.

With the agitation of an insulted man, the emperor uttered the following words: "Enter Russia without declaring war! I will never make peace as long as an armed enemy remains on my soil," he said.As Boris felt, the emperor had a good time uttering these words: he was satisfied with the way he expressed his thoughts, but he was not satisfied that Boris heard him. "Don't let anyone know!" the emperor added, frowning.Boris understood that this was meant for him, so he closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly.The emperor went into the hall again, and lingered at the ball for nearly half an hour.

Boris was the first to learn of the crossing of the Niemen by French troops, so that he had the opportunity to show to important people many things that others did not know but which he always knew Lift yourself up in mind. The news of the unexpected crossing of the Niemen by French troops came a month later than expected, and it was all the more surprising to hear it at a ball!At first, out of anger and humiliation, the emperor who received the news uttered the sentence that later became a famous saying, which he himself liked very much, and it fully expressed his feelings.After returning from the ball, the emperor summoned his secretary Shishkov at two o'clock in the morning and told him to write an order to the army, and sent a decree to Generalissimo Saltykov, in which he demanded that Add the words "He will never make peace as long as one armed Frenchman remains on Russian soil".

The next day he wrote the following letter to Napoleon. (French: abbreviated) ① -------- ① My dear brother, my lord!Although I am faithful to my duty to Your Majesty, yesterday I learned that your troops had crossed the Russian frontier, and it is only now that I have received an ultimatum from Petersburg, Count Loriston, speaking of the invasion. , citing the ultimatum, said that since Prince Kuragin applied for his own passport, His Majesty has considered that you and I have a mutual dislike.The reasons given by the Duke of Bassana for his refusal to issue a passport never occurred to me that the act of applying for a passport by our ambassador would be used as a pretext for an invasion.In fact, as the ambassador declared, I did not authorize him to make that application; and as soon as I heard the news, I immediately expressed my displeasure to Prince Kuragin, ordering him to perform his duties as usual.If Your Majesty is not willing to shed the blood of the two peoples for such misunderstandings, and agrees to withdraw your troops from Russian territory, I will not mind what has happened in the past, and we can still reconcile.Otherwise, we will be forced to fight back against an attack that we did not provoke at all.Your Majesty, it is still possible for you to save humanity from a new catastrophe of war.