War and Peace

Chapter 51

[five]

The rain stopped, and a little water dripped from the branches in the fog.Jackoff, the captain, and Biga rode silently behind a peasant in a cap.The farmer stepped carefully on the wet leaves and lifted his straw-sandaled feet.

On the hillside, the farmer stopped and looked around, then walked to a place with fewer trees.He stood by a leafy oak and greeted them mysteriously.Jackoff and Biga came to where he was standing and met the Frenchman.

"Bring the prisoners here." Jackoff whispered, keeping his eyes on the French army over there.

The Cossack soldiers dismounted the little prisoner and led him to the front of Jackoff.Facing the French soldiers, Jackoff asked the prisoner what unit it was. The little prisoner looked at Jackoff in fear. Although he was obviously willing to tell what he knew, he was flustered when he answered, and kept repeating Jackoff's words.

While they were whispering, there was a sudden burst of gunfire from the hollow of the pond, and at the same time there were hundreds of French shouts of joy.On the swamp, a man in red was running wildly, and the gunshots and shouts of the French soldiers were clearly aimed at him.

"Oh, he's our Jeho," cried the Cossack captain.Jeho was the bravest and most invincible man in the army. He was the best at finding opportunities to attack, and he also hunted down many French soldiers.Among the Cossacks and hussars, he was the most amusing figure.At this moment, the person who was sent to catch the "tongue" at night was either too greedy to catch only one Frenchman, or fell asleep at night, in short, when sneaking into the bushes occupied by the French during the day , was noticed by the French soldiers.

[six]

Jackoff chatted with the Cossack captain about the next day's action plan, and then he turned his horse and went back.

On the way back to the woodsman's hut, Jackoff stopped and looked into the woods.A man with extraordinary martial arts came out of the woods with a gun in his waist. When he found Jackoff, he immediately threw something into the bushes.He took off his wet hat and came to Jackoff, who was Jaho.

Jiehuo reported the process of scratching the "tongue" to Jackoff, and his narration aroused ridicule from time to time.Biga really wanted to laugh, but found that others were holding back their laughter. He also quickly turned his gaze from Jiehuo's face to the captain and Jackoff. He didn't know the reason for this.

"Don't you be stupid!" said Jackoff angrily. "Why didn't you bring the first one back?"

Jiehuo began to be at a loss, suddenly, he showed a silly smile, and his teeth were exposed.Jackoff smiled, Biga laughed happily after seeing him, and Jiehuo also laughed.

[seven]

After leaving Moscow, Biga said goodbye to his family and returned to his own team.Before long, he became the herald of the guerrilla general.Since he was promoted to an officer, especially after the battle of Vyazma, he felt happy to be an adult, and a kind of ecstasy and excitement always surrounded him, so that he refused to let go of every time. Opportunities for acts of heroism.

On October 21, when his general expressed his intention to send a man to Jackoff, Biga sincerely requested to carry out this task, so that the general had no reason to refuse his request.

Before reaching the edge of the forest, Biga resolved to carry out his task strictly, and returned as soon as the letter was delivered.But when he spotted the French, saw Jahout, and knew that there was going to be a fight that night, he quickly changed his mind, as all young men do.He began to hate the German general he had always respected. In his mind, the current heroes were Jackoff, the Cossack captain, and Jeho, and he felt it would be a shame to leave them at a difficult time.

When Jackoff, Biga and the captain arrived at the guardhouse, it was going to be dark soon. After 10 minutes, the tablecloth was set on the table.On the table were vodka, rum, bread, roast lamb and salt.At this moment Biga remembered the little French drummer who was captured, and he asked:

"Can you call the kid you caught? Maybe, you can give him something else to eat..."

"Yes, that miserable little guy," said Jackoff, who obviously didn't think there was anything wrong with Biga's proposal, "call him here, his name is Vincent Bosch." "I We should do something for him!" Biga said to himself, and opened the door to let the child into the room.

[eight]

The arrival of Rucourt made Biga no longer focus on the little French drummer.He had heard countless stories about Reukouter's heroic fight against the French, so when Reukouter entered the room, Biga began to look at him intently, with his head held high as if to say that he was worthy. Deserving to be Rucourt's partner.However, Rucourt's ordinary appearance surprised Biga.

"That's the way it is, but make sure you find out what it is and how many of them there are," Reuckout said. "We've got to go. Don't move until you know it. I like to be right. I say, you have Anyone willing to accompany me, I have brought all the French uniforms."

"I...I...go with you!" Biga shouted.When Rucourt and Jackoff were discussing how to release the prisoners, Biga felt unhappy and anxious, but he didn't have time to listen to what they were talking about.Jackoff repeatedly advised him not to go, and Biga always said that he would do things seriously, and he never thought about his personal safety. "I think you'll agree... If we don't know exactly how many they are, it's hundreds of people at stake, and we're only going to two, and I think I'm glad I did it well, I You must go, don't stop me."

[Nine]

Biga and Rucourt, wearing French soldier's overcoats and top hats, rode to the clearing where Jackoff watched the French troops stationed.One after the other they came out of the woods and ran down the hill in the night.Rukot ordered the escorting Cossack soldiers to wait at the foot of the mountain, and then they galloped along the road to the bridge on horseback.Biga was so excited that his heart was beating fast, and he ran forward following Rukot.

They walked along the main road, and French chatter could be heard from time to time by the bonfire beside the road.They walked and walked to a rich man's house.After entering the door, they dismounted and came to a burning fire, and saw several people chatting loudly.

The two Frenchmen who were laughing maniacally stopped, watching Rucourt and Biga who came leading their horses from the darkness.Rookout resumed the interrupted conversation, frankly asking how many battalions they had, their numbers, and the number of prisoners.Biga felt that they were about to reveal their secrets, and he couldn't help but backed away.

They left there.Along the way, Biga rode his horse and walked parallel to Rucourt. Biga repeatedly wanted to look back to see if anyone was chasing them, but he was brave.Reaching the main road, Reukot did not walk through the fields, but through the villages.At one point he stopped and listened.

Biga heard that it was the chatter of Russians, and the shadows of Russian prisoners by the fire were looming.After getting off the bridge, Biga and Rukot came to the sentry, but the sentry didn't say anything, just walked around the bridge sadly.In this way they returned unimpeded to the col where the Cossacks were waiting.

[ten]

Back at the sentry room, Biga found Jackoff on the porch.Jackoff felt uneasy because Biga had been let go, and he was waiting for him here.

"Thank God!" he yelled, and then began to listen to Biga's triumphant narration.

Biga sat for a while, happily thinking about all the details of his trip, and what might happen tomorrow.Later, seeing Jackoff fell asleep, he got up and went out for a walk.

Coming out of the porch, Biga looked into the darkness, then walked to the baggage cart.Someone was asleep under the wagon beside which stood the unsaddled horse.Cossack Likhachev stretched out from under the wagon, found Biga, and chatted with him.Biga took the opportunity to ask him to sharpen his unsharpened saber.

Biga sat and gradually entered the illusion.He should have understood that he was in the woods, in the partisan detachment of Jackoff, and that he was sitting in a captured French baggage wagon with horses grazing beside it, and that Cossack Likhachev was in the wagon right now. The side is sharpening the knife for him, the sentry room is on the right, and the dying bonfire is on the left.However, he didn't know anything, and he didn't want to understand.In his fantasy, everything is different from reality.

"Huchi, Huchi..." Listening to the roar of the saber, Biga seemed to hear a wonderful band playing a solemn and beautiful hymn.The singing is combined with the solemn march, the water drops are dripping, the sound of sharpening the knife is still rattling... The horse is neighing, but it does not disturb the singing, but becomes one with all the sounds.Biga didn't know how long this feeling lasted, he was happy, he was surprised by his happiness, and he regretted that no one could share it with him.

"The Commander is here." Likhachev woke him up with a soft cry.Jackoff came out of the sentry room and called Biga, telling him to prepare quickly.

[eleven]

In the dark, everyone found their horses and lined up in several rows.

Standing by the forester's hut, Jackoff gave the last order.Hundreds of guerrillas stepped on the mud and disappeared along the road into the woods shrouded in morning mist.The Cossack captain gave the same order to the Cossacks.Biga took the reins, eagerly awaiting the order to mount.

Biga walked alongside Jackoff in the queue, shaking more and more.It was getting brighter, but the fog still shrouded the distant scenery.After descending the mountain, Jackoff looked back and nodded to the Cossack soldiers beside him.

At the moment when people rushed towards the enemy camp, Biga also shouted "Ula" and rushed towards the place where the bullets were densest.He rode through a rich mansion, but as he walked, he let go of the rein immediately, and waved his arms strangely and quickly, before he finished, he fell to the other side of the saddle, in the morning light. In front of a bonfire that was about to burn out, the galloping horse stopped, and Biga's body fell heavily on the wet ground.His arms and legs were still shaking, but his head was motionless - a bullet had gone through his head.

Walking to Biga, Jackoff dismounted and turned Biga's pale face covered with blood and dirt with excited hands.

The raid was complete, and Bin-Air was among the prisoners rescued by Jackoff and Rookout.

[twelve]
For all the prisoners, Bin Air included, the French prefect issued not a single new order after his departure from Moscow.On October 22, the prisoners left the army and baggage trains that had left Moscow with them.

After setting off from Viazma, the French army, which had been divided into three columns, was now in disarray.Bin-Air had seen it during his first break after escaping Moscow, and the chaos had reached its peak.

Among the three columns, the prisoner escort team suffered the most casualties.Of the 330 troops sent from Moscow, there are now less than 100 left.The escort found the captives more difficult to deal with than the saddles and luggage convoys of the cavalry convoy.These pitiful escorts seemed to be afraid that they could not restrain their sympathy for the captives, so their attitude towards the captives became extraordinarily terrifying and cruel.

When leaving Moscow, the French chose to leave the captured officers and captured soldiers separately. Now, this rule is no longer necessary, and all those who can leave are put together.As a result, from the third leg, Binair was with Karataev and his gray dog.

On the third day after leaving Moscow, Karatayev's fever broke out again.As Karataev became weaker, Bin-Air gradually distanced himself from him.During the journey of nearly three weeks, he came to understand a new and comforting truth. He learned that nothing in the world is terrible, that no situation can make a person feel completely happy and free, and that There is no environment that can make a person feel completely unhappy and unfree, that is to say, both pain and freedom are limited.

He did not see or hear the shooting of stragglers, even though more than 100 people had been executed in this way.Nor did he think of the weakened Karatayev who was about to suffer such misfortune, nor did he think of himself.The more difficult his situation is, the more hopeless he is, the less he cares about the present, and what appears in his heart are often those happy memories and thoughts.

[Thirteen]
At noon on the 22nd, Bin Air climbed the slope along the muddy and slippery road, looking at his feet and the uneven mountain road from time to time.He felt that he was not thinking about anything, but deep down in his heart, he was thinking about an important and happy thing.This matter is the spiritual harvest he got after talking with Karatayev yesterday.

Bin-Air had felt a bitter cold by the dying campfire where he had spent the night before.He stood up and walked to the side of the bonfire that was burning vigorously.It was already midnight, and this was usually the most lucid moment Karatayev had after a fever.

That night, Karatayev told everyone another story:
Two businessmen are staying at an inn, and one of them sees his companion murdered and facing robbery the next morning.Under the businessman's pillow, a bloody knife was found.The merchant was interrogated and flogged, and finally sent into exile as a hard labourer, one of whom was the real murderer of the merchant.After hearing about the incident from the wronged businessman, the murderer surrendered to the government.The tsar's orders finally came: release the unfortunate merchant and return the confiscated property.But when he was found, "God had forgiven him—he was dead."

Now, what makes Bin-Air secretly happy is not the story itself, but its special meaning, the smug and happy expression on Karataev's face when he narrates the story, and the special meaning contained in this expression.

[fourteen]
There was confusion between the captive team and the escort team.The sound of passwords sounded all around, and a group of cavalry with gorgeous clothes and excellent mounts ran out from the left side of the captive team. The expressions of the people were very nervous, which was a kind of expression as if they were coming to the Supreme, and the captives were moved to one side and crowded together. group.

Karatayev beckoned to Bin-Air with kind, tearful eyes, obviously he had something to say.But Bin-Air felt that he didn't have the courage to go to him, so he ran away pretending not to see.

Bin-Air looked back as the captives continued on their way.He saw Karatayev still sitting under a birch tree by the side of the road, and two Frenchmen were chatting with him.Bin-Air didn't look back, he limped up the hill.

There was a burst of gunfire from where Karatayev was sitting, and the two French soldiers ran away from Bin Air.One of them was carrying a smoking gun.The faces of the two were pale, just like the faces of the soldiers who shot at the execution, and one soldier even glanced shyly at Bin-Air.Bin-Air recognized the soldier who had scorched his shirt while drying it over the fire a few days before, and everyone took pleasure in him for that.

Where Karatayev had sat, the greyhound barked wildly.The soldiers walking parallel to Bin-Air never looked back at the place where the gunshots and dogs were barking, but everyone had serious expressions on their faces.

[fifteen]
In the village of Shamshevo, the quartermaster convoy, the prisoners and the field marshal's convoy all stopped.

Bin-Air came to the campfire, and after eating the horse-roast, he lay down with his back to the fire and fell asleep, just as he had done in Mozhaisk after Polagello.Reality and dream merged again, and it was he himself or some individual people who were talking to him about the thoughts discussed in Mozhaisk's sleep.

"Life is all, is God. Everything is in motion, and motion is God. As long as there is life, there is the joy of feeling the gods. Love life, love God! The saddest and happiest thing is to love life in pain and innocence .”

"Karatayev!" Bin-Air remembered him.

(End of this chapter)