Chapter 5 chapter Five

The army continued to retreat from Smolensk.The enemy is in hot pursuit.On August 10, Prince Andrew's regiment marched along the main road, passing the road leading to Bald Mountain.The heat and drought have been going on for more than three weeks.Every day, the sky is filled with curly white clouds, occasionally blocking the sun; but at dusk, the sky is blue again, and the sun slowly sinks into a maroon mist.Only the thick dew of the night moistens the earth.The grains left on the stubble were roasted and dried and scattered in the fields.The swamps were dry, and the sun-baked pastures where the animals howled with hunger for no feed, were cool only at night in the woods, when the dew still kept them.And on the road, on the road where the army marched, even at night, even through the woods, it was not so cool.There is no dew in the three or four inches of dust that has been stirred up on the road.Just after dawn, the troops started marching again.The hubs of the baggage carts and gun carts, and the ankles of the infantry, were all trapped in the soft and suffocating dust, which had not cooled down in the night, and moved silently.Part of the sand was stirred up by people's feet and wheels, and the other part was lifted up, suspended over the army's heads like a cloud, and penetrated into the eyes, hair, ears, nostrils, and mainly into the lungs of pedestrians and livestock on the road. department.The higher the sun rises, the higher the dust cloud rises, but through the thin and hot dust cloud, the sun that is not covered by colorful clouds can still be seen with the naked eye.The sun is like a big fiery red ball.Without a breath of wind, people panted in the stagnant air.When they walked, they wrapped their mouths and noses with towels.Every time they came to a village, they flocked to the well and fought for water, drinking the well water until mud appeared.

Prince Andrei commanded his regiment and was busy with the chores of the regiment, the welfare of officers and soldiers, and the necessary sending and receiving of orders.The conflagration of Smolensk and the abandonment of the city marked the age for Prince Andrew.A new feeling of hatred for the enemy made him forget his own grief.He was engrossed in the affairs of the regiment, cared for his men and his officers, and was kind to them.The regiment called him Our Duke, were proud of him, and loved him.But he is kind and gentle only when he gets along with the people in the group and people like Timoxin. These people are new to him, and they are in a different environment from before. It is impossible for these people to understand and know His past; and as soon as he came into contact with his former acquaintances, with the people in the headquarters, he immediately raised his hair again; he became fierce, mocking, arrogant.Everything that reminded him of the past repulsed him, so in his relations with the former circle he did what he could to do his duty and avoid injustice.

Indeed, everything now seemed to Prince Andrew in darkness and gloom—especially after the abandonment of Smolensk (which he thought could and should be held) on August 6, after his old and sick My father had to flee to Moscow, abandoning the Bald Hill, which he had run for so many years, was full of houses and moved into the population. After being robbed by the enemy, he felt even more gloomy and miserable. But even so, because of this group of people, Prince Andrei was able to think about another matter that had nothing to do with general problems—about his own team.On August 10, the column of his regiment advanced to a place parallel to Bald Mountain.Prince Andrew had received the news two days before that his father, sister and son had gone to Moscow.Although he had nothing to do in Bald Mountain, he had a disposition to bring about his own grief, and he decided to drop by to Bald Mountain.

He ordered his horses to be prepared, and rode from the march to his father's country.He was born and spent his childhood there.Prince Andrei rode by the side of the pond, where before there were always dozens of village women chatting and washing their clothes with a pounding stick, but now there was not a single person in sight of cars, boats, or the rotation of the earth. The duality of waves and particles, generally, the rafts that fell apart were half submerged in the water and floated crookedly to the center of the pond.Prince Andrew rode up to the porter's cottage.There was no one beside the stone gate of the entrance, and the gate was also locked.The garden paths were overgrown with weeds, and calves and horses roamed the English-style parks.Prince Andrew rode up to the conservatory: the glass was broken, and some of the trees in the barrels were down and some were dead.He called to Taras the gardener, but no one answered.He went round the conservatory to the herbarium, and saw that the carved balustrade was completely broken, and some of the fruit-bearing plum branches were broken.The old serf whom Prince Andrew had seen in his childhood at the gate was sitting on a green bench knitting bark shoes.

-------- ①It is convenient to take water, wash clothes, drink livestock, etc. by the side of the pond. He was deaf and could not hear Prince Andrew approaching.He sat on the old prince's favorite bench, and beside him hung bark on dead and broken branches of magnolias. Prince Andrei rode up to the house, where the linden trees in the old garden had been cut down, and a pinto horse and foal were walking up and down among the rose bushes in front of the house.The windows were shuttered.One of the downstairs windows was still open.A boy servant saw Prince Andrew running into the house.

After seeing off his family, Alpatych remained alone in Bald Hills; he sat in his room reading a book from the Lives of the Saints.Hearing that Prince Andrey had returned, with his spectacles still on his nose, he went out of the house buttoning his coat, hurried up to Prince Andrew's knee, kissed Prince Andrey's knee, and began to cry without saying a word. . Then he turned away, annoyed at his own weakness, and began to report various affairs.All valuables were shipped to Bogucharovo.Grain, about a hundred russians, had also been taken away; hay and spring crops, which, according to Alpatych, had grown particularly well this year were good crops, which had been cut and requisitioned by the army before they were ripe.The serfs also went bankrupt, some went to Bogucharovo, and a small number stayed.

Prince Andrew asked without waiting for him to finish. "When did father and sister go?"—he meant when he went to Moscow.Alpatitch thought the question was about going to Bogucharovo, and replied that he was going on the seventh, then went on to discuss business matters in detail, and asked about future arrangements. "Are you saying that the army will take the oats with a receipt? We have six hundred russians left," asked Alpatitch. "What's the best answer to him?" thought Prince Andrei, looking at the old man's bald head gleaming in the sun, and seeing from the expression on his face that he himself clearly understood that these questions were out of place, but they were just questions. Just hold back the sadness.

"Okay, send it to them," he said. "If you see a disorder in the garden," said Alpatych, "it cannot be prevented: three regiments have passed and lived here, especially the dragoons. I have taken note of the rank and name of the commanders. , in order to present the child.” "Well, what are you going to do? Stay, if the enemy takes it?" Prince Andrew asked him. Alpatitch turned his face to Prince Andrew, looked at him, and suddenly raised his hand solemnly: "God is my protector, obey him!" he said. A crowd of serfs and house slaves came from the pastures and approached Prince Andrew with their hats off.

"Well, farewell!" said Prince Andrew from his horse, leaning over to Alpatych. "Go yourself, take all you can with you, and send everyone to Ryazan or to an estate near Moscow." Alpatych wept bitterly against his leg.Prince Andrew carefully pushed him aside, gave his horse a hard push, and galloped down the avenue below. The old man, still unmoved by all this, like a fly on the face of a noble dead man, sat in the herbarium beating on the last of his bark shoes, while the two little girls in their skirts carried them from the greenhouse to the tree. From there he came across the plums he had plucked from the garden and met Prince Andrei.When the older girl saw the young master, she took the hand of the little friend in panic, and hid behind a birch tree together, ignoring the green plums scattered on the ground.

Prince Andrei also hastily turned his face away from them, lest they should realize that he had seen them.He pitied the pretty frightened little girl.He was afraid to look back at her, but he couldn't help but want to take a look.He was in the consolation of a new joy, for he had just seen the two little girls, and understood that there existed another reasonable human interest in the world, totally alien to him, which attracted his interest as well. it's the same.The two little girls evidently longed for one thing, namely, to take and eat those green plums without being caught, and Prince Andrei shared with them the hope that this would be successful.He couldn't help looking at them again.Thinking they were out of danger, they jumped out of their hiding places, shouted in squeaky little voices, rolled up their skirts, turned their tanned bare feet, and ran happily and swiftly along the pasture grass.

Prince Andrei felt somewhat refreshed when he left the dusty area raised by the marching troops on the main road.But not far from Bald Mountain, he returned to the main road and caught up with his resting group by the embankment of a small pond.It was past one o'clock in the afternoon.The sun, a red orb in the dust, burned his back through his black coat, unbearably.Dust still hung motionless over the halting, noisy army.There is no wind.As the horse galloped past the dike, Prince Andrei smelled the green algae and the coolness of the pond.He wanted to jump in the water - no matter how dirty the water was.He looked around the pond, where there were shouts and laughter.In this small pond with green plants, the turbid water has risen more than half a foot, overflowing the embankment.Because the pond was full, the naked soldiers, their arms thumping in the pond, their faces and necks were like red bricks, but their bodies were white.All these snow-white naked bodies are laughing and screaming in this dirty puddle, playing like a group of crucian carp crowded in a bucket. There is a hint of joy, which contrasts with extra sadness. A young fair-haired soldier—Prince Andrew knew him—of the third company, with a leather belt on his calf, made the sign of the sign of the cross, stepped back a few steps to better his running, then jumped into the water, and A black sergeant with disheveled hair stood waist-deep in the water, his muscular body trembling and snorting happily, pouring water on his head with two thick black hands.There was a sound of splashing water at each other in the pond, screaming, splashing. On the bank, on the embankment and in the pond, there are white, healthy, muscular bodies everywhere.Tymokhin, the red-nosed officer, who was wiping himself on the embankment with a towel, felt ashamed when he saw the prince, but said to him resolutely: "What a pleasure, sir, come too!" he said. "Very dirty," said Prince Andrew, frowning. "We'll clear the place for you immediately." Timoxin ran to clear the place before putting on his clothes. "The duke is coming to wash." "Which prince? Our prince?" said many voices at once, and all hurried out of the pond, and it was with difficulty that Prince Andrey stopped them.He thought he might as well go to the shed and wash it. "Flesh, bodies, chairacanon!" he thought, looking at his naked body, shivering, not from the cold, but from the inability to see so many bodies bathing in the dirty pond. Understandable disgust and horror. On August 7, Prince Bagration wrote the following letter from his residence in the village of Mikhailovka on the Smolensk Avenue. "His Excellency, Count Alexey Andreevich: (He is writing to Arakcheyev, but he knows that his letter will be read by the Emperor, so I weigh every word with all my might. ). I think that the minister has reported that Smolensk has fallen into enemy hands.The vain abandonment of this most important position is so sad, and the whole army is in despair. For my part, I myself persuaded him with the most earnestness, and wrote him a letter afterwards; but nothing can be persuaded. subdue him.I swear to you on my honor that Napoleon was never in such a desperate situation that he could not take Smolensk without losing half his men.Our army fights and fights more than ever.I led 15,000 people to stand firm for more than 35 hours and resisted the enemy; but he was unwilling to stand firm for 14 hours.It's a disgrace, a great stain on our army; and he himself, I think, is unworthy of this world.If he reported that the loss was heavy—this is not true, it may be about four thousand, not more, or even less than four thousand; even if it is a loss of ten thousand, there is no help, this is war!And the enemy's losses are incalculable... What obstacles will there be if you stick to it for two more days?At least, they would evacuate themselves; for they had no drinking water for soldiers and horses.The minister, who had assured me that he would not retreat, suddenly gave the order to abandon the position at night.This would make it impossible to fight, and we might soon lead the enemy to Moscow... Rumor has it that you asked for and.Don't make peace, after all these sacrifices and such a mad retreat—make peace; you'll attract the opposition of all Russia, and every one of us in uniform will be ashamed.Now that this is the case-- The fight should go on, while Russia still has strength, while the people have not fallen... One should be in command, not two.Your minister may be good as a cabinet minister; but as a general, not only bad, but very bad, and yet he bears the fate of our whole country... Indeed, I am going mad with depression, forgive me if I take the liberty to tell you write a letter.Evidently, the man who suggested the conclusion of peace, and the command of the army by the minister, was a man who did not love the Emperor, and wished the ruin of us all.So I tell you the truth: prepare for the vigilante.Because the minister is skillfully leading the guests to follow him into the ancient capital.The entire army was extremely suspicious of the emperor's valet, Herr Woerzogen.It is said that he is more like Napoleon's men than ours, and it is he who advises the ministers on everything.Not only did I respect him, but I obeyed him like a monitor, even though I was older than him.It is painful; but out of my love for my benefactor, I obey.It's just a pity for the emperor, who actually entrusted such a person with a glorious army.Come to think of it, in the retreat we lost more than 15,000 people to fatigue and attrition in the hospitals; we would not have lost as much in the offensive.For God's sake, please tell me, our Russia, what our mothers will say, why are we so worried, why do we hand over such a good and hard-working Fatherland to those villains, making every one of our subjects hate and shame?Why are you timid, who is afraid?I am innocent.The minister is indecisive, timid, confused, dull, and has all the bad qualities, and the whole army is crying bitterly, cursing that he deserves death..."