Chapter 4
The Council of War is taking place in the hut of a peasant family, the head of which is named Andrew Savostyanov. The whole family has crowded into the backroom, except six-year-old Malasha, who is cute and thinks of Kutuzov as "grandad" (her actual grandfather is Andrew Savostyanov). Barclay de Tolly arrives, looking ill since he's been feverish for days. Count Ostermann-Tolstoy is also here, which must have been odd for Tolstoy to write about. Everyone's waiting for Bennigsen, who said he was inspecting the position but is actually having dinner. They wait from 4pm to 6pm, until Bennigsen arrives and asks the most important question; whether to defend Moscow or not. Kutuzov tells him off, and tells him that the right question is what is the best way to save Russia - should they defend Moscow, or will that risk losing the entire country? Since Bennigsen is heavily invested in presenting the idea of defending Moscow, even though it's dumb, he presents several ways to do that which everyone then argues about. From Malasha's point of view, she sees a personal struggle between "long coat" (Bennigsen) and grandad, and she is very much on grandad's side. Eventually, Kutuzov sighs and orders a retreat, reminding them that his authority is given by the Tsar. Everyone leaves, as if leaving a funeral, and Kutuzov spends a bit more time gloomily glooming over how the abandonment of Moscow became so inevitable.
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