War and Peace

Chapter 14

"I didn't say you, I don't know you at all, and frankly, I don't want to know you."

"You want to ridicule me," interrupted the Duke d'Andrew, "that's all right, we'll talk about that today, and in a few days we'll have another big battle. You'll know me, and you'll know Where to find me, but remember," he went on, "I don't think I'm insulted, and I don't think you're insulted, I'm older than you, and I advise you not to remember it. " Duke Andrele finished speaking, bid farewell to Blitz, and walked out.

Lostaff called for his horse to be brought in, and said good-bye to Blitz coldly.Shall we go to headquarters tomorrow and challenge this bumbling adjutant, or shall we just let it go? ——This question troubled Rose Taf all the way.

[eight]

On the second day of the meeting between Blitz and Rostaff, the emperors of the two countries jointly reviewed the [-] Russian-Austrian troops.

The magnificent and mighty army began to form in the early morning, and they lined up on the field in front of the fortress, and they were not ready until ten o'clock.The whole army was lined up in three horizontal formations, with cavalry in front, artillery in the middle, and infantry behind.The army was a mixture of three armies, Kotusov's Field Army, the Guards and other troops newly brought in from Russia, and the Austrian army.The three troops are completely different, but they receive a unified command, stand in the same formation, and maintain the same formation.

The generals were all in full armor, belts of various thicknesses tied as tight as possible, stiff collars standing up about the neck, and ribbons and all the decorations on their bodies.The officers' hair was oiled, and it shone brightly.The soldiers were all in high spirits, their faces clean-shaven, their weapons polished, their horses shining like silk, and their wet manes combed meticulously.No matter the general, officer or soldier, they all feel that they are accomplishing something extraordinary and solemn.Each soldier is aware of being a drop in the ocean and feels very small; at the same time, they are also aware that they are part of a whole, and therefore feel very proud of themselves.

Like the wind blowing through the leaves, there was an excited whisper: "Here, the emperor is coming!" Then there was a panicked sound, and all the phalanxes were swept by the sound and commotion like waves.

A group of horsemen came from a distance, and the first cavalry regiment at the front began to blow their bugles, and then the young and kind voice of Emperor Alexander came, and the first regiment began to shout: "Hurrah!" Loud and melodious, deafening, it seems that the person who made the call felt intimidated.

The young and handsome Emperor Alexander wore a cavalry uniform and a three-cornered hat. His admirable face and his small but loud voice attracted everyone.

Rostaff rode beside the trumpeter, and his keen eyes recognized the Emperor from afar.When the emperor walked twenty steps away from Rose Stave, Rose Stave carefully looked at the emperor's face, feeling a kind of excitement and joy that he had never felt before.Every movement of the emperor, every feature of his body, seemed to Rostaff very moving.

The Tsar stopped before the Paulograd regiment, said something in French to the Austrian Emperor, and smiled.

The tsar turned around and said to the officers: "Everyone, I thank you from the bottom of my heart." Rostav felt that every word of the emperor weighed a thousand catties, and he thought, if he could fight to the death for his emperor now , what an honor that should be!

"You have already obtained a lot of St. George's military flags, and in the future, you must be worthy of these military flags."

"Only be loyal to the Emperor, and die for him!" thought Lostav.The Tsar said a lot more, but Rostav couldn't catch it.At this time, the soldiers exhausted all their strength and raised their voices "Hurrah!" Rostav leaned over the saddle and shouted with all his strength. He felt that as long as he could fully express his respect and love for the emperor, he would be willing to shout loudly. of.

After the review, the officers gathered and talked happily.There is only one hope for everyone: under the leadership of the emperor, beat the devils hard, and under the command of the emperor, they can defeat all incoming enemies.Everyone is full of confidence and has greater hopes for victory.

[Nine]

On the second day after the review, Britz put on a clean and tidy military uniform and went to Olmitz to find Duke André.He hoped to use the Duke's prestige to secure for himself the best position, especially as aide-de-camp to the general, which he found a particularly attractive position in the army.For the first time, he did not meet Duke Andrele.The next day, he came to visit again.The people in the headquarters were very cold and arrogant, but this only strengthened Blitz's determination to squeeze in here.

"I'm very sorry, you didn't see me yesterday. How about you, do you want to work here too?" Seeing Britz, Duke Andrele stepped forward and took his hand.

"Yes," said Britz, blushing for some reason, "I would like to ask the Commander-in-Chief, and Prince Kuragin wrote him a letter for me."

"Listen, you don't need to go to the Commander-in-Chief," said the Duke Undry, "he has a battalion of heralds soon. Well, I have a good friend, his name is Prucot, and the Duke of Prucot is Chief Attaché, I will introduce him to you to see if he can keep you with him."

It was already dark when they entered the Olmitz Palace where the two emperors and their subordinates were staying.

On this very day, an emergency military council was called, in which both emperors and the entire staff of the military senate were present.Contrary to the opinions of the two old generals Kotusov and Schwarzenberg, the participants all advocated an offensive, and the meeting decided to start a decisive battle with Napoleon immediately.The military meeting ended when Duke Andrele took Blitz into the palace to find Pruco.Everyone in the base camp was intoxicated by the victory of the Youth faction in this meeting.Those voices who advocated a postponement of the offensive were suppressed by the crowd, and their arguments for not advocating the offensive were refuted.Victory is at our fingertips, and all favorable conditions are on our side.Needless to say, a powerful force stronger than Napoleon has been assembled and is on standby; the two emperors personally marched, which greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers; Drills were held in the operational area; Napoleon, apparently weakened, was not mentally prepared for the war.

One of the most aggressive advocates was Prueko, who had just returned from the meeting, exhausted but in high spirits, elated that his opinion had prevailed.Duke Andrée introduced Blitz, but Prucot just shook Blitz's hand politely, and did not talk to him. He obviously couldn't hold back his excitement. He said to Duke Andrée in French: up.

He spoke of his confidence in the victory of the campaign, of Napoleon's letter to the Russian Emperor that day, of his brother's dinner with Napoleon in Paris, but never had time to talk about Bolitz.

The next day, the troops went to the front line.Until the end of the Battle of Austerlitz, Blitz had no chance to meet Duke Undryer and Prucot, and he remained with his former regiment.

[ten]

At dawn on November [-], Jackoff's cavalry company remained in reserve.Rostaff saw the soldiers passing by him on their way to the front, and felt again the tension of the eve of the battle.But soon, he saw that the Cossacks escorted back the entire group of captured French soldiers. The battle was obviously over. captured.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" suddenly came a voice among the hussars.Rosettaph stopped all thoughts at this moment, and his whole heart was filled with ecstasy at the emperor's arrival, like a lover's joy at the date he was looking forward to.

Suddenly, the emperor stopped not far from Lostaff.The emperor's face was brighter than when he reviewed the troops three days ago.The Emperor glanced at the hussar company, and his eyes met Rosettaver's unexpectedly, and lingered for a moment on Rosettaffer.

The young emperor couldn't contain his joy of being on the battlefield. Regardless of the dissuasion of his attendants, he set off from his third column at twelve o'clock at noon and rode to the front line on horseback.On reaching the hussar company, several adjutants met him and reported that the war was successfully concluded.

The victory of this battle, that is, captured a cavalry company of the French army, but this battle was regarded as a glorious victory over the French army. All were convinced that the French had been defeated and were forced to retreat.A few minutes after the emperor left, the Paulgrad cavalry regiment was ordered to move on.In Weishao, a small foreign city, Rosettaph met the emperor again.

The emperor thanked the troops, handed out rewards, and doubled the vodka to the soldiers.At night, a bright bonfire was lit in the Russian army camp, and the soldiers' happy songs rang out.Jackoff celebrated his promotion to major that evening, and Rosestaff celebrated with the officers, toasting the emperor's health.

In the middle of the night, when everyone had already dispersed, Jackoff stretched out his short hand and patted Rosettaff on the shoulder.

"Because you were loved by no one in the march, you fell in love with the Emperor," he said.

"Jackoff, don't joke," said Lostaff loudly, "this feeling is sublime, great..."

"I know that..." "No, you can't figure it out!"

Lostav stood up and walked back and forth among the piles of bonfires, imagining how glorious it would be if he could die for the emperor, not when he was saving him (he dared not have such delusions), Instead, he died directly in front of the emperor.He really liked the emperor, the glory of the Russian army, and the yearning for victory in war.

[eleven]

At dawn on the [-]th, Napoleon's special envoy Savary came to Visau and conveyed Napoleon's request to meet Alexander.To the excitement and pride of the entire army, Emperor Alexander refused the other party's request for a meeting, and only sent Pruco, the victor in the Visau battle, to negotiate with Napoleon on behalf of the emperor.In the evening, Pruco came back and ran directly to the palace.

On November [-]th and [-]th, the Russian army advanced for another two days, while the French army retreated continuously.The upper echelon of the army began intense and exciting preparations from noon on the [-]th until the next day, the early morning of November [-]th. On this day, the famous Battle of Austerlitz broke out.

It was Duke Andrele's turn to be on duty that day, and he never left the Commander-in-Chief's side.At six o'clock in the evening he accompanied the commander to the Emperor's camp to see the Emperor and Count Tolstoy, Chamberlain.During the commander's stay in the palace, Duke Andrei had a conversation with Pruco, Perebi and others.Prueko was extremely optimistic about the battle, and he spoke with joy of his meeting with Napoleon, convinced that Napoleon's time had come.

On the way back, Duke Andrele couldn't stop asking the commander-in-chief who was sitting silently beside him, asking him what he thought about tomorrow's battle.The commander-in-chief glanced at his adjutant dignifiedly, thought for a while, and then replied:
"I expected to lose the battle. I told Count Tolstoy my opinion and asked him to pass it on to the emperor. Guess what he said to me?" Well, my dear general, what I care about is food and clothing. It's military.' Yeah...that's the exact answer they gave me!"

[twelve]
At nine o'clock in the evening, the Chief of Staff of the Austrian Army, Villatel, came to the Commander-in-Chief's residence with his battle plan, where the pre-war military meeting will be held.All the commanders of the columns attended the meeting punctually, except the Duke of Borgolagio who refused to attend.

Villatel was the full-fledged commander in chief of the battle, and his excitement and enthusiasm formed a stark contrast to the displeased and dozing Kotusov.Confidently, for hours on end he preached incomprehensible battle plans, refusing to listen to any doubts or opinions.

During the meeting, Kotusov sat on a chair with his arms open, put his fat, old hands symmetrically on his knees, and almost fell asleep.If the participants thought at first that Kotusov was pretending to be asleep, then when the battle plan was read out, the commander-in-chief's snoring proved that he was indeed asleep.The importance of sleep has surpassed the contempt for combat deployment or any other thing. This thing is to satisfy the irresistible human need-sleep.He didn't wake up until the meeting was over, coughing heavily, and turned to look at the generals.

"Everyone, tomorrow's, no, it should be said that today's (because it's almost here) combat deployment can no longer be changed," he said, "We must fulfill our responsibilities, and there is nothing better than sleeping before the battle." It’s more important to feel nourished.”

He stood up slowly, and the generals bowed and dispersed.Duke Andrele, who was allowed to attend the meeting, also came out.

This pre-war mobilization and deployment meeting left an unclear and unpleasant impression in the heart of Duke Andrele. "Couldn't Kotusov state his views to the emperor face to face? Is it because of court and personal reasons that he must bet on the lives of 10,000+ people and mine?"

It was a foggy night, and the moonlight mysteriously pierced through the fog. "Yes, tomorrow, tomorrow!" thought Duke Andrele. "What will happen tomorrow? Maybe it will be over, and these memories will no longer have any meaning for me. Maybe tomorrow, Certainly even tomorrow, I can feel that I will finally have the opportunity to show what I can do.” This was that moment of happiness, the Toulon he had been looking forward to for a long time.He will steadfastly and clearly state his views to the commanders of the Russian and Austrian armies, as well as the leaders of the two states. To form an army, one condition must be agreed first, that is, it must be deployed by him personally, he led the army to fight tenaciously, and finally returned victorious.But what if you die in battle? —He didn't want to think about it.His mind took on wings, and he continued to imagine his accomplishments.The next battle will be deployed by him alone.He was nominally the officer on duty next to the commander, but he had to personally command everything, and finally won another victory.Kotusov was dismissed, he was appointed ... but what happened after that? ——Another voice said, even if you can win every battle, and you haven't been wounded or killed by shells, what will happen next?Duke Andrele asked himself and answered, "I don't know what's next, I don't want to know, and I can't know. But I yearn for victory, for honor and fame, for respect, I yearn for this position, I only yearn for this Everything, I just fought for it, through no fault of mine. Yes, I live for it! And I'll never tell anyone about it, but, my God, now I have nothing but honor and I don't love anything but people's love. Death, wounding, loss of family, I don't care about anything. I'd give up everything—father, sister, wife, those closest to me, as long as I get a moment of honor. No matter how immoral and unreasonable it seems." He was thinking, while listening to the conversation in the courtyard where Kotusov lived, "after all, superiority is what I yearn for , I value this mysterious power and glory, which is haunting the night mist above my head!"

[Thirteen]
That night Rosestaff led a platoon at the sentry line flanking the Borgoladgeo column.He rode back and forth on the sentinel line, trying his best to restrain the drowsiness that kept attacking him.While sleeping, he fantasized about many things, such as hometown, relatives, friends, comrades-in-arms, battlefield, death and glory, and so on.

(End of this chapter)