Chapter 6 Chapter Six

The next day, the troops gathered at the designated place after dark and marched at night.It was an autumn night, the sky was covered with dark purple clouds, but it was not raining.The ground was wet but not muddy, and the army marched soundlessly, save for the occasional faint clang of artillery.No loud talking, no smoking and no lighting; try not to let the horse neigh.The secrecy of the march adds to its charm.People are walking happily.Some columns, thinking they had reached their destination, stopped, raised their guns, and lay down on the icy ground; some columns (mostly) walked all night, apparently going where they should not have gone.

Count Orlov Denisov led a detachment of Cossacks (the most insignificant of all detachments) to the appointed place at the appointed time.The detachment stopped at the edge of a forest on a path leading from the village of Stromilova to the village of Dmitrovskoye. When it was almost dawn, Count Orlov, who was still dozing off, was awakened.A man who had escaped from the French barracks was brought in.The man was a Polish sergeant in Poniatowski's regiment.The sergeant explained in Polish that he had come here because he had been bullied in the army, he should have been promoted to an officer long ago, he was braver than anyone, so he left them and want revenge on them.Murat, he said, was spending the night only a mile from them, and that he would capture him alive if he brought a hundred guards.Count Orlov Denisov consulted with his colleagues.The offer was too tempting to refuse.Everyone volunteered to go, everyone wanted to try it.After much debate and much deliberation, it was decided that Major General Grekov would lead two regiments of Cossacks to carry out the mission together with the sergeant.

"Remember," Count Orlov Denisov said to the sergeant as he was seeing him off, "if you tell a lie, I will hang you like a dog, and if you do The material world exists by itself, and matter and movement are inseparable. If consciousness depends on people, I will reward you with a hundred gold coins." The sergeant made no reply to these words with a resolute expression, mounted his horse, and set off with Grekov's men, who had quickly assembled.They hide in the forest.Count Orlov saw Grekov off, and, shivering in the cool pre-dawn air, agitated by the fact that the matter was his own, he came out of the woods to look at the enemy camp, when at The enemy's camp could be seen vaguely in the white of the sky and the dim light of the dying fire.On the right of Count Orlov Denisov, our column should have appeared on the exposed slope.Count Orlov looked that way, and although at a distance he could still see our column, but he did not see it.Count Orlov Denisov felt that the French barracks were beginning to move, especially from the words of a good-sighted aide-de-camp.

"Ah, it's too late." Count Orlov said, looking at the officer.It suddenly occurred to him, as is often the case when someone we trust is not in sight, that it was perfectly clear, plain and simple, that the sergeant was a liar, that he had told a big lie, and God knows where he had taken two regiments , the entire Russian attack was disrupted by the absence of these two regiments.How could a commander-in-chief be captured alive in such a large army? "Indeed, he lied, the rascal," said the count. "You can call him back," said one of the squires, who shared Count Orlov Denisov's feeling that this operation was unreliable when he was looking at the enemy camp.

"Eh? Really... what do you think? Should they be allowed to go or shouldn't they be?" "You called them back, didn't you?" "Call them back, call them back!" Count Orlov said suddenly and firmly, looking at his watch, "I'm afraid it's getting late, it's daylight." So an adjutant galloped into the woods to find Grekov.When Grekov came back, Count Orlov Denisov was very excited because he had canceled the attempt, because he had not been able to wait for the infantry column to appear, and because the enemy was in sight (he was a member of the detachment). People are very excited), decided to attack.

"Get on the horse!" he ordered in a low voice.The soldiers took their positions and made the sign of the cross... "God bless!" "Ulla—!" The shout resounded throughout the forest, and the Cossack soldiers held their guns, one after another, as if poured out of a pocket, quickly crossed the stream, and rushed happily to the enemy camp. The first Frenchman to see the Cossacks uttered a cry of despair and terror, and before the whole battalion had time to put on their clothes, they dimly dropped their cannon, guns, and horses and fled in all directions. If the Cossacks pursued the French without heeding what was behind and around them, they might have taken Murat alive and taken everything there, as the commanders intended.But the Cossacks, after taking the booty and the prisoners, could not push them forward, and no one obeyed orders.This time 1,500 prisoners were captured, 38 cannons, many banners, and horses, saddles, uniforms, and many other things that the Cossacks considered most important.All this had to be done, the captives and the cannon had to be placed, the spoils had to be divided, some quarreled among themselves, some fought over each other, and the Cossacks were very busy about it.

The French, who were no longer being pursued, came to their senses, organized their ranks, and began to fight back.Count Orlov Denisov, still waiting for the arrival of other columns, did not continue the attack. At the same time, following the order: "dieerste Colonnemarschiert,"1 etc., the belated columns of infantry under Bennigsen's and Thor's had set off in the proper order and, as usual, had reached a certain point. location, but that is not the designated arrival location.The soldiers who set off happily stopped; complained and confused, and returned to a certain place.The adjutants and generals galloping up shouted, quarreled with each other, said they had gone completely wrong, were too late, scolded so-and-so, and so on, and finally waved their hands resignedly and went on again. , wherever you go. "No matter how you go, you can always reach it!" Sure enough, they reached the designated place, but some columns arrived at the designated place, but it was too late, and they had no effect, only to be beaten.Thor played in this battle the part that Virothel had played at Austerlitz, galloping about on horseback, finding things backfired everywhere.At daylight he galloped to the place where the Bagout regiment was stationed in the woods, and this regiment should have joined Orlov Denisov long ago.Thor, anxious and indignant at this mistake, and thinking that someone should be responsible for it, rode up to the commander of the regiment, and severely reprimanded him, saying that for this reason he should be shot.Baghout, a quiet, combat-ready old general, was also exhausted by delays, confusion, and mistakes. Surprisingly, he was uncharacteristically mild-mannered and furious. Said many nasty things to Thor.

-------- ①French: The first column is marching towards a certain place. "I don't want to be taught by anyone. My soldiers and I will not be more afraid of death than others." After he finished speaking, he led a division forward. The excited and brave Bagoud braved the fire of the French and walked towards the field. He didn't consider whether it would be beneficial to enter the battle at this time, so he led a division to rush up against the hail of bullets.Danger, shells, bullets, these are just what he needs in his anger.One bullet in the first few volleys of the enemy killed him, and the next few volleys killed many soldiers.One of his divisions held out for a while without benefit under fire.