FROM GORKY Bennigsen went down the high-road to the bridge, which the officer on the knoll had pointed out to Pierre as the centre of the position, where by the riverside lay rows of sweet-scented, new-mown hay. They crossed the bridge to the village of Borodino, then turned to the left, and passing immense numbers of men and cannons, came out on to the high knoll on which militiamen were at work excavating. This was the redoubt, as yet unnamed, afterwards called Raevsky's redoubt, or the battery on the mound.

Pierre did not take special notice of this redoubt. He did not dream that that spot would be more memorable for him than any other part of the plain of Borodino. Then they crossed a hollow to Semyonovskoye, where the soldiers were dragging away the last logs of the huts and barns. Then they rode on downhill and uphill again, across a field of rye, trampled and laid as though by hail, along the track newly made by the artillery, over the ridges of the ploughed field, to the earthworks, at which the men were still at work.

Bennigsen halted at the earthworks, and looked in front at the redoubt of Shevardino, which had been ours the day before. Several horsemen could be descried upon it. The officers said that Napoleon and Murat were there. And all gazed eagerly at the little group of horsemen. Pierre too stared at them, trying to guess which of the scarcely discernible figures was Napoleon. At last the group of horsemen descended the hill and passed out of sight.

Bennigsen began explaining to a general who had ridden up to him the whole position of our troops. Pierre listened to his words, straining every faculty of his mind to grasp the essential points of the coming battle, but to his mortification he felt that his faculties were not equal to the task. He could make nothing of it. Bennigsen finished speaking, and noticing Pierre's listening face, he said, turning suddenly to him:

“It's not very interesting for you, I expect.”

“Oh, on the contrary, it's very interesting,” Pierre repeated, not quite truthfully.

From the earthworks they turned still more to the left of the road that ran winding through a thick, low-growing, birch wood. In the middle of the wood a brown hare with white feet popped out on the road before them, and was so frightened by the tramp of so many horses, that in its terror it hopped along the road just in front of them for a long while, rousing general laughter, and only when several voices shouted at it, dashed to one side and was lost in the thicket. After a couple of versts of woodland, they came out on a clearing, where were the troops of Tutchkov's corps, destined to protect the left flank.

At this point, at the extreme left flank, Bennigsen talked a great deal with much heat; and gave instructions, of great importance from a military point of view, as it seemed to Pierre. Just in front of the spot where Tutchkov's troops were placed there rose a knoll, which was not occupied by troops. Bennigsen was loud in his criticism of this oversight, saying that it was insane to leave a height that commanded the country round unoccupied and place troops just below it. Several generals expressed the same opinion. One in particular, with martial warmth, declared that they were doomed there to certain destruction. Bennigsen, on his own responsibility, ordered the troops to be moved on to the high-road.

This change of position on the left flank made Pierre more than ever doubtful of his capacity for comprehending military matters. As he heard Bennigsen and the other generals criticising the position of the troops at the foot of the hill, Pierre fully grasped and shared their views. But that was why he could not imagine how the man who had placed them there could have made so gross and obvious a blunder.

Pierre did not know that the troops had not been placed there to defend their position, as Bennigsen supposed, but had been stationed in that concealed spot in ambush, in order unobserved to deal a sudden blow at the enemy unawares. Bennigsen, ignorant of this project, moved the troops into a prominent position without saying anything about this change to the commander-in-chief.

贝尼格森离开戈尔基，顺着山坡大路向大桥进发，这就是军官指给皮埃尔看的那个阵地中心，那座桥旁边的河岸上堆放着刚割下来的，散发着香味的干草。他们驰过桥，进入波罗底诺，再向左转，经过大批的士兵和大炮，来到有士兵在那儿挖土的高岗。这个多面堡当时还没有命名，后来叫作拉耶夫斯基多面堡或者叫作高地炮台。

皮埃尔没有特别注意这个多面堡。他不知道，这个地方对他来说比波罗底诺战场任何其他地方，都更值得纪念。随后他们经过一条山沟来到谢苗诺夫斯科耶村，士兵们正在那儿从农舍和烘干室拖走最后剩余的木头。然后，他们又翻了一座山，经过一片像被冰雹砸平的黑麦地，沿着耕地上刚被炮兵踏出来的坎坷不平的道路驰到了正在构筑的突角堡①。

①突角堡是一种防御工事。——托尔斯泰注。

贝尼格森在突角堡停下来，向前眺望那昨天还属于我们的舍瓦尔金诺多面堡，看得见那儿几个骑马的人。军官们说，那里面有拿破仑，要不就有缪拉。大家都贪婪地望那一群骑马的人。皮埃尔也往那边看，极力猜测那几个影影绰绰的人影中哪一个是拿破仑，后来，骑马的人下了山岗就不见了。

贝尼格森对走到跟前的军官开始讲解我军的整个形势。皮埃尔听着贝尼格森的讲解，绞尽脑汁想弄清目前战役的真相，但是他很苦恼，觉得自己脑子不够用。他一点也没听懂。

贝尼格森停住了，看着仔细倾听的皮埃尔，忽然对他说：

“你大概不感兴趣吧？”

“啊，正相反，非常感兴趣。”皮埃尔说了违心的话。

他们离开突角堡向左转，在一片稠密的白桦树矮林中，沿着一条蜿蜒的小道前行。走到树林中时，一只白腿的褐色兔子跳到他们面前的路上，被众多的马蹄声吓得惊慌失措，在他们前面的路上跳上了很久，引起大家的注意和哄笑，直到几个人一齐吆喝它，才跳到路旁的密林里。在密林里又走了两三俄里，他们来到一片林间空地上，这儿驻扎着防守左翼的图奇科夫兵团的队伍。

在这极左翼的地方，贝尼格森激动地讲了很久，然后发布了一个皮埃尔觉得是重要的军事命令。在图奇科夫的队伍驻地前面有一个高地。这个高地没有驻扎军队。贝尼格森大声地批评这个错误。他说，不据守制高点而把军队放在山下面，简直是发疯。有几个将军也表示了同样的意见。其中一个特别具有军人的暴烈脾气，他说，把军队放在这儿是等着敌人来屠杀。贝尼格森自作主张，命令把军队都转移到高地上去。

左翼的部署，使皮埃尔更加怀疑自己对军事的理解能力。听贝尼格森和将军们批评军队驻在山上，皮埃尔完全明白他们所说的话，也赞成他们的意见；但是，正因为如此，他不能理解那个把军队放在山下的人怎么会犯这样明显、重大的错误。

皮埃尔不知道，这些军队布置在那儿，并不像贝尼格森所想的那样是为了守卫阵地，而是隐蔽起来打伏击的，也就是出其不意地打击来犯的敌人。贝尼格森不知道这一点，不向总司令报告，便自作主张把军队调到前面去。