War and Peace

Chapter 44

At this moment, Napoleon was already standing on the hill, and in front of him was a large open scene.From Bowhead Hill, the broad river, the gardens, and the churches of Moscow, the local churches and cupolas, all seemed to be business as usual.

Napoleon couldn't help being jealous and uneasy when he saw this unprecedented group of buildings and this wonderful home.This kind of thinking is the same as what people feel when they are in a strange and exotic living situation.Clearly, this is a vibrant city.Napoleon could often tell the living from the dead from vague signs.On the hill of bowing his head, Napoleon felt the pulsation of these cities and the breath of this beautiful and huge body.

"These Asian cities with countless churches, their sacred capitals! This is her, finally coming to this famous city! It's time," he said.Even he found it strange that what he had longed for, which seemed almost impossible to him, had come true today.In the bright morning, he alternately looked at the city and sometimes at the map. The thought of occupying the city at once filled him with excitement and panic.

Two hours passed.After lunch, Napoleon stood on the hill again, waiting to visit the delegation sent from the city.The speech he was about to deliver to the high officials had been prepared, and in this speech he was full of the concepts of greatness and dignity he understood.

The marshal and the generals were discussing in low voices excitedly, and here were the men sent to find the delegation.They brought back news that Moscow was a deserted city, that the inhabitants had left.The people who discussed were pale and anxious.

The emperor, considering his lenient policy, walked patiently up and down before the map, sometimes covering his eyes with his palm, looking down the avenue at Moscow, and smiling cheerfully and proudly.But gradually the Emperor grew weary of the long and hopeless waiting, like an actor who must feel that a solemn moment loses its meaning when it lasts too long.With some of his gestures, the first signal cannon sounded.The French army immediately poured into Moscow from all directions through the gates of Tver, Kaluzhsky, and Dorogomilov.

[twenty]
Moscow was empty at this time.Even if there are some people in the city, this is only a small part of the original residents, and the city is empty.This empty city is like a hive without a queen bee.

Facing this empty city, Napoleon was helpless, he was very upset, his expression was tired and restless.He walked back and forth, waiting for the arrival of the city delegation.He understands that this is just a superficial article, but he thinks it is also a courtesy that must be fulfilled.

In some corners of Moscow, some people are still active as usual, although they don't know what the purpose of this activity is.

Everyone reported the details of the city of Moscow to Napoleon in a cautious manner. Napoleon glanced at the reporter angrily, then turned around and continued to pace quietly.

He said to himself: "Moscow is deserted, what an unbelievable sight!"

A good play was not performed.

[21]

From two o'clock the night before to two o'clock the next afternoon, the Russian army retreated continuously through the city of Moscow, taking away the last batch of residents and wounded.As the troops moved across the Great Stone Bridge, the Moskva River Bridge, and the Yavuz River Bridge, there were collisions among the crowd.The army divided into two groups outside the Kremlin and rushed towards the Moscow River Bridge and the Great Stone Bridge.Taking advantage of this lull and crowd, many soldiers walked back from the bridge, slipping quietly past the Vauchille Church onto Red Square.By feeling, they feel that they can easily take other people's things here.Everyone seems to be buying cheap goods, crowding around the streets and alleys of the mall.

From an open shop there was a sound of beatings and shouts, and an officer approached a group of soldiers who were in the shop.At that moment there was a loud and terrible cry from the Moskva Bridge, and upon hearing this the officer ran back towards the square.

General Ermolov came to this side of the square, and when he saw that the soldiers had run into the shops and that the townspeople were blocking the way on the bridge, he ordered two cannons to be brought up, and made the appearance of firing on the bridge .Seeing this, the people crowded, ran, and shouted in despair, and left the bridge, so the army moved forward again.

[22]

The city is deserted, the streets are deserted, and everyone's houses and shops are locked.In the vicinity of certain taverns, occasional shouts and singing of drunks could be heard here and there.There are no cars on the street, only the occasional footsteps of pedestrians.There is only silence and desolation on Chuzi Street.In the courtyard of the Lostaff family, there were only leftover hay and horse manure everywhere, and there was no one in the entire courtyard.In this house that has abandoned all property, only the gatekeeper Ignat and the little servant Mishka stay alone in the huge living room.

Mavra Kuzminishna came to the yard, thinking: whether to drink tea in the hall, or to go to the storeroom to put away the untidy things.

There was a sound of hurried footsteps coming from far away.At the door, the footsteps stopped. Someone was pushing the door vigorously, and the door latch slapped.

A young officer stood in front of Mavra Kuzminishna. The expression on his face was very similar to that of the Lostav family familiar to Mavra.Mavra Kuzminishna looked sympathetically at his face, his battered army overcoat, and his worn boots.

Mafra Kuzminishna opened the side door.Then the round-faced officer of eighteen or nineteen entered the room.It turned out that the Rostaff family had come to ask the earl for help.Before he could finish speaking, Mavra Kuzminishna turned around and walked towards her room with old strides.When she came back, there was a look of fear and determination on her face.She was carrying a small bag closed in a checkered handkerchief, and close to the young officer she opened the handkerchief and took out a white twenty-five-ruble note from it, which she handed to the man.

The officer did not refuse, took the money, thanked the old woman, and went after his party again.

[23]

On Varvarka Street there was an unfinished building, on the ground floor of which was a tavern, from which came the shouts and singing of drunken men.In this untidy hut, a dozen people who look like workers are sitting at a table together.They all seemed to be drunk. These people were sweating profusely, their eyes were wandering and cloudy, and they were yawning with their mouths open, humming a strange song incessantly.

Among them was a tall lad who, thinking, was waving his white arms solemnly and stiffly over their heads.The blacksmiths in the nearby blacksmith shop heard shouting in the tavern, thinking that the tavern had been robbed, so they rushed in desperately, and people started fighting at the door.

A man said to the tavern owner: "It's fine if you rob someone, but you still want to strip him? Why are you beating someone? You robber!"

The tall young man stood silent, his drunken eyes looking now at the tavernkeeper and now at the blacksmith, as if considering whom to attack.

Suddenly, he pointed at the tavern owner with his hand and shouted: "Murderer, brothers, quickly tie up this man!"

So he was surrounded by a group of people including the tall young man and walked towards the police station.

On the corner of Maroseka Street, more than 30 dejected, gaunt-faced, shabby-clad bootmakers stood in front of a large closed house with a boot shop sign.The shoemakers, who were talking, stopped talking when they saw the approaching crowd and the bleeding man, and looked at the group curiously.Soon, they also joined them.Taking advantage of the crowd, the tavern owner slowly fell behind the people, and finally, he turned back into the tavern.The tall young man didn't notice that his prisoner had escaped. He was still waving his bare hands and talking loudly to the people around him, in order to attract everyone's attention to him.People mostly leaned on him, hoping to get answers to their concerns from him.

Near the walls of the city of Kita, a small crowd gathered around a man in a woolen overcoat with papers in his hand, and stood before him, listening to the decree of the 31st of August.When people questioned something difficult about the notice, a police chief happened to drive by in a buggy.The Commissioner of Police had been ordered this morning to burn the frigate, and the execution of this task had done him much good.At this time, the money was still in his pocket.Seeing the crowd approaching him, he ordered the coachman to stop.When he understood the reason for the crowd gathering, he ordered the coachman to turn around and leave quickly.

They all ran noisily behind the police chief's car, shouting and cursing, and ran towards Lubyanka Street.

[24]

On the evening of September [-], Count Rushdoppitch returned to Moscow after seeing Kotusov.He was distressed and angry that he had not been invited to the council of war, and that Kotusov had rejected his proposal to defend Moscow.

After twelve o'clock the count was awakened by a courier who had been ordered by Kutuzov to arrive with his message.He said that since the army was going to evacuate to Ryazan Avenue via Moscow, he was asked to send someone to guide the army.The news was not news to him personally, but this short letter, with Kotusov's order, as much as the news he had learned during the night, surprised and disturbed the count.

He is an impulsive and short-tempered person, he has always been high above the ground, and even if he has patriotic enthusiasm, he has no understanding of the people he leads.Since the enemy entered Smolensk, he has played the actor of "Russian Heart" in his imagination, and he believes that he should act as the guide of everyone's thoughts.But now, having unexpectedly left the role, letting him abandon Moscow without any heroic deeds, made him feel as if the ground beneath him had disappeared, and he seemed bewildered by it.

After reading Kotusov's cold, commanding letter, Count Rushdoppitch was even more annoyed and felt that something was wrong.Those entrusted to him and the state property that should be protected were still left in Moscow, and it was impossible to remove them all.

"Whose fault is it? Who made this place like this?" he pondered.

The Earl of Rushdowbach was busy all night giving instructions, and people came from all over the city to listen to his orders.No one around him had ever seen the Count so unhappy, so easily lost his temper.The count gave simple and angry answers to all kinds of questions raised by the people.His attitude is to say that people no longer need his orders now, and whoever destroyed everything he worked so hard to prepare should be fully responsible for what happened now.

[25]

Before nine o'clock, the troops left Moscow without incident.At this time, no one came to ask the Earl of Rusdowberry.All who can go are gone, and those who are left are doing what they planned to do.

As the administrators of the rulers, they took a not-so-good boat and hooked the people's boat with a pole to move naturally. They thought that the big boat was moving forward by their efforts.But this understanding only occurs when the sea is calm.As long as the sea is stormy and the sea is rough, the big ship still moves automatically, and this illusion will no longer exist.As long as the big boat continues to move forward according to its own will, the poles on the small boat will gradually lose its reach.The people holding this pole, the former rulers, suddenly fell from the position of the ruler and the power source, and became a useless person.

Now he felt it, and he was annoyed by the feeling.When Rushdoppich was about to rise, the adjutant came forward to report that a group of people, who had obeyed the earl's instructions and were going to attack the French, wanted to see him.Looking at the large crowd under the balcony, Rushdobach said that he would go among them and deal with the culprit who destroyed Moscow—Veresic first.

While Rushdobach spoke, Veresic was brought before him.After hearing the count's first few words, he gradually raised his head and looked at the count, as if he wanted to say something to him, or meet the count's gaze.However, he didn't look at him.All the people looked at him.He looked at the crowd, as if to find hope from their faces, he smiled sadly and timidly, then lowered his head again, and changed his standing posture.

Rushdobach glanced at Veresic, who was still standing dumbfounded below, and raised his hand and shouted to everyone, "Hack him to death! You can deal with him yourself!"

The crowd became restless and confused.Just when Veresic fell and people were yelling and beating him, Rushdopach's face was extremely ugly. He didn't go to the place where the carriage was waiting for him, but walked quickly along the corridor downstairs with his head bowed. Walking, he himself didn't know why he was going here.His face was pale, and his mouth was still trembling.

A servant came to call him, and said the carriage was parked in front of the porch at the back of the house.Hearing a roar in the distance, Rushdoppch hastily got into the carriage and ordered the driver to take him to his residence outside the city of Sokolnitz.

At the house in the suburbs, the count took care of some household chores.Half an hour passed, and the count rode swiftly across the land of Sokolnitz again.Now, he no longer thinks about the past, but only thinks about what is about to happen.

He rode to the Yavuz bridge, where Kotusov was said to be.In his heart, he had already prepared angry and harsh words of condemnation, and he wanted to let those old foxes in the imperial court know that the abandonment and destruction of Moscow, and all the responsibilities for these unfortunate events should be borne by him, a fatuous old man.

[26]

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, Murat's troops entered the capital.A pair of Württemberg hussars led the way, followed by a large retinue, and the King of Naples himself on horseback.

An officer of the vanguard came up to Murat and reported to him that the gate of the castle was blocked, as if there was an ambush there.After hearing the report, Murat immediately ordered that the gate be bombarded with four cannons.

The Kremlin's vesper bells rang, alarming the French, who took it as a signal of impending battle.The generals and soldiers of the French army, as if they had heard the command, immediately changed their relaxed and calm expression just now, showing a tenacious, serious appearance, ready to fight and suffer.

The French army entered Moscow hungry, cold, exhausted, and only a third of their original number, but they still had good military discipline.This is still a combative and deterrent army.However, this is just the situation before they enter the homes of ordinary people. As soon as they enter the homes of citizens, especially those of rich families, this army no longer exists, and they become thieves who are neither soldiers nor civilians.Five weeks later they left Moscow, but by this time they were no longer a team, but a band of robbers, who took pile after pile of gold and silver jewels which they considered valuable.When these people left Moscow, they could no longer concentrate on fighting as before. All they cared about was how to bring the looted things back to France intact.

There are no residents here.Soldiers, like water soaking into the sand, began to seep from the Kremlin, where they first entered, and gradually seeped around.Moscow sinks these people deeper and deeper, and they are drowned by the land like water that quickly disappears in the sand.As a result, the starving army perished along with the city, which hid countless treasures.

[27]

The French spread all over Moscow, and it was not until the night of September [-] that they spread into the district where he lived.

(End of this chapter)