War and Peace

Chapter 16

"Hurrah!" cried the Duke André, carrying the heavy standard with difficulty, and he was sure that the whole battalion would follow.Sure enough, he only ran a few steps, and several soldiers followed up, and the soldiers behind also followed up one after another. Therefore, the whole battalion shouted "Ula" to follow up and overtook him.A soldier, seeing the Duke of Andrele struggling to carry the flag, which was tilted to and fro in his hands, ran to take it, but the soldier was killed immediately.Duke Andrele took up the banner again, and rushed forward with the battalion.He saw our artillery in front of us, some of them were fighting the enemy to the death, and some of them couldn't hold on and ran back.The Duke of Andrele and the battalion ran to a place only tens of meters away from the cannon. He heard the bullets roaring above his head, and soldiers around him kept being shot and fell down, but he didn't bother to look at them. in the battle.Suddenly, he seemed to feel that a French soldier next to him swung a thick stick and hit him on the head.He felt a little pain, but mostly unhappy because the pain distracted him from what he was looking at.

"What's wrong? I fell down? Why can't my legs move." He thought, and fell down with a plop.He opened his eyes slightly, wanting to see how the French fought with our artillery. He wanted to know if the tall soldier was still there, and whether the artillery continued to bomb the enemy's position.But he saw nothing.There is nothing in front of his eyes, only a piece of sky—this high sky is not clear, but it is still infinitely high, and there are only a few clouds hanging in the sky. "How quiet, solemn, and solemn it is, not at all like my run," thought the Duke d'Or, "not like us running, shouting, fighting, not at all hated like that Frenchman and our artillery." and terrified faces vying for a gun, the clouds don't belong to us, the sky doesn't belong to us. Why didn't I see this vast sky before? I see it now, and I feel Couldn't be happier...”

[seventeen]
On the right flank of Borgoladjo's corps the battle had not yet begun at nine o'clock.Borgolageo disagreed with Pruco's request to start the attack immediately. In order to shirk his responsibility, he suggested to Pruco to send someone to ask the commander-in-chief.Borgolagio knew in his heart that since the two flanks were more than ten miles apart, even if the sent men were not killed (which was very likely), it would be evening before they could find the commander-in-chief (which was quite difficult) and return.

He picked Rostaff.Lostaff felt very fortunate that his lofty ideals had been fulfilled: there was a great battle, and he participated in it; moreover, he was a conspicuous herald; moreover, he was ordered to see the commander, Maybe not even seeing the emperor himself.The weather was fine in the morning, and he was very happy and excited.He reined in and let the horse gallop along our lines.

At first, he walked along the lines of Bogorageo's troops, where the fighting had not yet begun.Then he walked into the zone of Uvarov's cavalry, which was ready for battle.After walking into the Austrian position, on a small hill, Rostaff saw gunpowder smoke and dense gunshots. He continued to move forward, and suddenly encountered a large group of Austrian cavalry on black horses and wearing white uniforms. , they were rushing frantically towards the enemy land, and Rostaff was nearly knocked down by them.Rostaff later learned that this was the attack of the Praetorian Guards, which astonished the French, and only a few dozen of these young, rich, and handsome officers and soldiers returned alive after the attack.

As he passed behind the position of an infantry regiment, he heard his name called:

"Lostaff!" "Eh?" he agreed, without realizing it was Britz. "Great! We've been to the front! Our regiment has charged!"

Britz spoke with gusto, smiling that young man's usual smile after his first battle.

Rostaff stopped. "Really?" he said. "Did the attack go well?" It was said that they saw a team in front of them and thought it was the Austrian army. The other party opened fire suddenly, and it was only then that they realized that they had encountered the French army.Rostaff rode off without waiting for him to finish.

"What are you going to do?" asked Britz. "I was ordered to see His Majesty." After finishing speaking, Lostaff turned his horse and left.Going around the position where the gunfire was the most intense, Lostav came to the rear of our army, but here, he suddenly heard the gunfire. "What's the matter? Why did the enemy come to the rear of our army?" He noticed the quarrel between the Austrian and Russian troops who were fleeing at the same time, and even raised his gun to shoot.

Was there an illusion in Rostaff's mind?He had seen, however, that the French army was already standing on the top of Platz Hill where he was going to find the Commander-in-Chief, but he could not believe it and would not believe it was real.

[eighteen]
Rostav rode on his horse and continued to look for the commander and the emperor, but no one knew where the commander and the emperor were. The retreating soldiers told him that the emperor and the commander were both wounded and had fled long ago.

Everyone knew in their hearts that this battle had failed.Lostaff slackened his horse's pace, not knowing whom to look for or why.At Hostiladeck he was told that there was an officer behind the village on the left, and that Rose Stafford rode away.About three minutes after he walked, he met two horsemen by the side of a small river. One of them had a feather on his hat. On a white horse (which Rose Taph also seemed to know well), the rider on the white horse came to a ditch, gave the horse a stab, let go of the rein, and leaped briskly across, then, suddenly, he turned his horse. He jumped back again, and said something respectfully to the man wearing the white tasseled hat, obviously asking him to jump over too.That rider, who Rose Tapher seemed to have seen before, shook his head and waved his hands in a gesture of refusal. Seeing this gesture, Rose Tafer immediately recognized that this man was the emperor he wanted to see day and night, and day and night.

He stood alone in the field, "It's impossible," thought Lostaff.At this moment, Alexander turned around, and Rostav finally saw the lovely face engraved in his memory.The emperor's face was pale and troubled, and even his eyes were sunken, but his face was more beautiful and moving because of this.Lowstaff felt very honored, because he confirmed that the news that the emperor had been injured was not accurate; he was happy because he saw the emperor with his own eyes.He knew that he could, and even should, go directly to the Emperor and convey to the Emperor what Bogorageo had said.However, he didn't know how to speak, he was just trembling all over, looking nervous, wanting to ask for help, find an excuse to delay the time, or find a chance to leave.

"How is that possible? It would be uncomfortable and tiresome for a stranger to disturb him at such a moment when he was alone and distracted. Besides, I could say to him What can I say? Once I get in front of him, my mouth will not open and my heart will stop beating. Besides, now that the sun is setting and the battle has been defeated, how can I get the emperor to issue an order about the right-wing attack? What about his order? No, I must not see him, I should not bother him, I would rather die a thousand times than see his dejected eyes and hear his bad opinion." Lostav said Having made up his mind in this way, he left with regret and disappointment, looking back as he walked, at the emperor standing there hesitantly.

At this moment, Captain Von Toll happened to pass by here. When he saw the emperor, he hurried over to serve the emperor and help the emperor to cross the ditch.The emperor felt unwell, so he sat down on a flat stone to rest. Thor stood beside the emperor, and talked with the emperor enthusiastically for a long time. The emperor seemed very sad while holding Thor's hand and covering his eyes.

Rostaff watched the scene with envy and regret. "I could have had a chance to go forward!" Lostav thought silently, holding back the tears of the poor emperor, and walked forward with great remorse. Now he didn't know where to go, nor Not sure what he was supposed to do.

[nineteen]
André Bolkonski was lying on the Platz Hill where he had fallen with the banner, his wounds were still bleeding, he seemed to be moaning, and uttered a weak voice in a voice he was not familiar with. A mournful, childlike moan.

As the sun went down, he stopped moaning and fell completely silent.He seemed to be conscious.He suddenly realized that he was still alive, and his head hurt like a crack.

"Where is that high sky, that piece of sky that I didn't know at first, but now I finally see the vast sky?" This was his first thought. "I didn't know the pain before," he thought, "yes, why didn't I know it before, nothing. But where am I?"

As he lay still, he heard the approaching hooves of a horse and voices speaking French.He opened his eyes slightly, and the high sky was still in front of him, but the floating clouds floated higher, and through the floating clouds, he could see the azure blue sky.He didn't move his head, so he didn't see the people who came up to him.

Before him stood Napoleon on horseback and two of his personal aides-de-camp.Napoleon patrolling the battlefield.Seeing that he was still angry, he stopped.The Duke of Andrele was on his back, with the fallen flagpole beside him (the flag had been taken as a trophy by the French soldiers).

"It's meaningless to die like this!" said Napoleon, staring at Duke Andrele.Duke Andrele knew in his heart that he was talking about himself, and it was Napoleon who was speaking.He heard the people next to him calling him "Your Majesty".However, these voices didn't take his heart at all.Not only was he not interested, but he didn't pay attention, and immediately forgot about it.His head hurt so badly, he felt his blood was drained dry, his whole body seemed to be paralyzed and he couldn't move.He knew that this man beside him was Napoleon, the hero he admired, but at this moment, there was a certain echo between his heart and the high, infinite, cloud-floating sky, compared with this echo. , Napoleon seemed very small, even more insignificant.At this time, whether it was Napoleon, Alexander or the commander, Duke Andrele felt that it didn't matter.He just hopes that someone can help him, because he wants to live, and his understanding of life at this moment is completely different.He moved with all his strength.

"Ah! he is not dead," said Napoleon. "Take this young man to the ambulance."

After inspecting the battlefield, Napoleon once again saw the Duke of Andrele while inspecting the prisoners.

"Young man," he said to the Duc d'Andrew on the stretcher, "how do you feel, my hero?"

Although a few minutes ago, Duke Andrele could have spoken a few words to the stretcher bearers, but now he stared at Napoleon without saying a word. At this moment, he felt that compared with the depth, justice, and vastness he saw All that Napoleon was concerned about at the moment, and the petty vanity and joy of victory that this hero in Andrei's mind had, were all so insignificant. Therefore, Duke Andrele did not answer his question. question.

And the weakness from the bloodshed, the pain, the imminence of death, all had in his mind a longing, a desire to live, and everything else seemed futile and insignificant.The Duke André looked into Napoleon's eyes, and thought that a great man can become small, that a life whose meaning is unknown to no one is so small, and that death, whose meaning cannot be understood by the living, is even more small .

Napoleon's physician, Larrey, carefully examined Duke Andrele's injury and said: "This is a neurosis, and he has no hope."

The Duke of Andrele, along with some other seriously wounded, was left to the care of the local population.

(End of this chapter)