Khan Mamai: why the loser of Kulikovo Field is considered Ukrainian. The meaning of the word mamay in the brief biographical encyclopedia Khan mamay briefly

Every child knows Mamaia as the Kulikovo antagonist, the main villain, as well as the enemy of the bright Dmitry Ivanovich. But who is he? What is his fate? Who was he, who did he become? What he really is?

Mamai is a famous Horde khan who claimed his rights to the throne, although he did not have them. He was a great politician who remained in power for twenty years. At the same time, he managed to play a huge role in the fate of Russia and all of Eastern Europe. Mamaia was born into a hereditary clan known as the Kipchaks. Khan Hakob was his father, he brought up in Mamai all the best human qualities such as endurance, strength, courage. In addition, he gave him good military training, which is why Mamai became a great commander and beklarbek under the young Khan Muhammad. In fact, only two people could have such a high title (backlarbek title) in the Golden Horde, and Mamai was one of them.

Mamai owned quite large territories, but due to the growing power of Tokhtamysh, he soon lost almost all of his lands, with the exception of a couple of Polovtsian steppes - the Northern Black Sea region and the Crimea. There he remained the undivided ruler and master over the army and the supreme court, who pursued a cold and straightforward policy, distinguished by excellent prudence.

But let's move on to the battle that decided the fate of this great commander and khan, which crossed out his entire policy, built by an intelligent and prudent man over the course of twenty years; to the battle that forced him to flee shamefully from the battlefield, which made him again afraid of the Russian troops and broke his spirit and the spirit of his army; to a battle in which all his hired men and the Mongol-Tatars who remained loyal to him were killed. We move on to the Battle of Kulikovo, to the control point that radically changed the fate of the great leader Mamai.

So, the Battle of Kulikovo was early in the morning, full of fog of fears and hopes, on September 8, 1380. It began with a duel between Chelubey on the part of the Mongol-Tatars and Peresvet on the part of the Russians, from which both heroes did not come out alive. Chelubey fell dead with his head towards Mamaev’s army. It was a bad omen, very bad.

In the end, everything turned out as Chelubey’s corpse predicted: Mamai’s troops crushed Dmitry’s advanced regiment, began to put pressure on the large regiment, but it was too large, so they did not begin to put pressure on the left flank. He succumbed to attacks and was almost killed, which would have given the Mongols the opportunity to penetrate the rear of Dmitry’s soldiers and chop them all up from behind. But it was not there. Behind them appeared the Ambush Regiment, organized by Dmitry specifically for this occasion. The Mongols got scared and fled, panic began. Mamai also fled from the battlefield. He sincerely thought that it was the Russians rising from the dead. Soon he showed up in Crimea, where he was hacked to death by Tokhtamysh’s mercenaries.

MAMAY

Mamai is a temnik of the Golden Horde, who seized power in the Horde after the murder of Khan Kidir in 1361 and held it in his hands until 1380, under 13 ephemeral khans. Under him, the Moscow orientation of the Golden Horde was replaced by Tver (1370 - 75; labels for the great reign of the Tver Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich), and in connection with this, the first, after Batu, clashes with Moscow occurred (Russian victories on the Vozha River in 1378 and on Kulikovo Field in 1380), which shook the authority of Mamai in the Horde. He was driven out of there by Tokhtamysh, fled to Kafa and was killed there (1380).

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Origin

Fight with Tokhtamysh

In 1377, the young khan, the legitimate heir to the Golden Horde throne, Chingizid Tokhtamysh, with the support of Tamerlane’s troops, began a campaign to establish legitimate power in the Golden Horde. In the spring of 1378, after the eastern part of the state (Blue Horde) with its capital at Sygnak fell, Tokhtamysh invaded the western part (White Horde), controlled by Mamai. By April 1380, Tokhtamysh managed to capture the entire Golden Horde up to the northern Azov region, including the city of Azak (Azov). Only his native Polovtsian steppes remained under the control of Mamai - the Northern Black Sea region and Crimea.

On September 8, 1380, Mamai’s army was defeated in the Battle of Kulikovo during a new campaign against the Principality of Moscow, and his great misfortune was that on the Kulikovo field, the young Muhammad Bulak, proclaimed khan by him, died, under whom Mamai was a beklarbek. The defeat on the Kulikovo field for Mamai was a heavy blow, but not fatal, but it helped the legitimate Khan Tokhtamysh to establish himself on the Golden Horde throne. Mamai wasted no time in gathering a new army in Crimea for the next campaign against Moscow. But as a result of the war with Khan Tokhtamysh, supported by Tamerlane, Mamai’s next attack on Rus' did not take place. A little later, in September 1380, a decisive battle took place between the troops of Mamai and Tokhtamysh. Historian V. G. Lyaskoronsky suggested that this battle “on Kalki” took place in the area of small rivers, the left tributaries of the Dnieper near the rapids. Historians S. M. Solovyov and N. M. Karamzin suggested that the battle took place on the Kalka River, not far from the place where the Mongols inflicted their first defeat on the Russians in 1223. There was no actual battle, since on the battlefield most of Mamai’s troops went over to the side of the legitimate Khan Tokhtamysh and swore allegiance to him. Mamai and the remnants of his loyal companions did not start bloodshed and fled to the Crimea, while his harem and noble women from the Jochi clan, whom Mamai cared for, were captured by Tokhtamysh. The victory of Tokhtamysh led to the establishment of legitimate power in the state, the end of a long internecine war (“Great Zamyatnya”) and the temporary strengthening of the Golden Horde until the clash with Tamerlane.

Death

After his defeat from the troops of Tokhtamysh, Mamai fled to Kafa (now Feodosia), where he had long-standing connections and political support of the Genoese, but he was not allowed into the city. He tried to penetrate Solkhat (now Old Crimea), but was intercepted by Tokhtamysh's patrols and killed. It is assumed that he was killed by mercenaries on the orders of the khan. Tokhtamysh buried Mamai with honors.

Descendants of Mamai

According to the family legend of the Glinsky princes, the descendants of Mamai were serving princes in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Glinskys, whose family domains were located on the lands of the Poltava and Cherkasy regions of Ukraine, descended from the son of Mamai, Mansur Kiyatovich. Mikhail Glinsky staged a rebellion in Lithuania, after the failure of which he transferred to Moscow service. His niece Elena Glinskaya is the mother of Ivan IV the Terrible. Relatives of the Glinsky princes, the Russian princes Ruzhinsky, Ostrogsky, Dashkevich and Vishnevetsky played an important role in the development of the Cossack community of the Dnieper region, the formation of the Zaporozhye Army and the lands under its control, Zaporozhye.

Purposeful work to completely change history began in the seventeenth century as part of the so-called reform activities of the first representatives of the Romanov dynasty. Old monuments, tombstones - mostly all destroyed. And they died because they had symbols on them, which the Romanovs rejected. It was replaced by new symbols of the reformist times of the seventeenth century. And in order to remove as many of these traces as possible, in particular, a large-scale destruction campaign was undertaken. As part of this action, the Peresvet slab was destroyed. Such large-scale transformations could have been caused by religious motives and the desire to bring Russian historical science in line with new Western standards.

Allegedly, in Rus', before the era of Peter the Great, the era of the Romanovs, in general, there was no cartography of its own. Existing maps, for example maps of Moscow, are maps made by foreigners. Old documents, old maps, first of all, often categorically contradicted the new one. They depicted geography (the geography of Russia, Europe, the geography of the world), which diverged from the new geography created in Western Europe by the school of Scaliger and in our country by the school of Romanov historians.

Icon depicting the Battle of Kulikovo Field

The Yaroslavl Museum contains one dating back to the mid-seventeenth century. Unique image. How many centuries this image lay in oblivion - we do not know. Using icon painting technology, the image was covered with drying oil, which tended to gradually darken. After about a hundred years, the icon became completely black without restoration. And on top of the disappeared image a new image was drawn, not always coinciding with the previous one.

When in the twentieth century they learned to remove old layers using chemical means, many original stories were revealed. The same story happened with this icon. Only in 1959 the image of the Battle of Kulikovo was revealed. The masterpiece of Yaroslavl painting will tell a lot of interesting things to an attentive and unprejudiced eye.

Here the troops, led by Mamai, are crossing the river, descending from a high hill. There are no such elevation changes on the plains of the Tula region. But the red hill in Moscow exactly follows the icon painter’s image. But the most intriguing thing is that on the Yaroslavl icon there are no significant differences between the Tatar and the Russian army. The same faces, the same banners. And on these banners is the image of the Savior not made by hands, who from time immemorial was considered the patron saint of Russian soldiers. There were both Russians and Tatars on both sides.

At that time there was no division into nations in the modern sense. It was all mixed up and more unified. And we see that these old images convey to us completely different from what we know today from Romanov history textbooks. Moreover, some documents say that the Volga Tatars were very reluctant to serve Mamai. And there were few of them in his army. Mamai led: Poles, Crimeans, Yasovs, Kosogs and Genoese, who also provided financial support for his company. Meanwhile, the baptized Tatars, along with the Lithuanians, fought on the side of Dmitry.

Who was Khan Mamai really?

As you know, Mamai had an army called a “horde”. However, the Russian army is also called exactly the same. Here is a quote from Zadonshchina: “Why are you, filthy Mamai, encroaching on Russian land? Was it Zaleskaya’s horde who beat you?”

“Zaleska land” was the name of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. So maybe the word “horde” simply means an army, and not Tatar hordes as we are used to understanding? But who then was Mamai really? According to the chronicle, temnik or thousand, that is, a military leader. Several years before the Battle of Kulikovo, he betrays his khan and tries to usurp power.

Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich in Moscow has a very similar story, and even taking place at the same time. The thousand's son Ivan Velyaminov, having quarreled with Dmitry, runs into the horde and there prepares for a campaign against his ruler. It is not difficult to notice that the actions of the thousand in the history of the Battle of Kulikovo somehow strangely duplicate each other.

According to the chronicles, Ivan Velyaminov, who came to Russian soil, is a traitor and will be executed right on the Kulikovo field after Dmitry’s victory. In memory of this event, the Grand Duke will even order. On the Donskoy coin there was an image of the prince himself, holding a sword and shield in his hand. At his feet lies a defeated enemy whose head has been cut off. It is known that Ivan Velyaminov was executed. His head was cut off and this coin records the fact of victory over his enemy.

Dmitry and his opponent with swords in their hands. A few more minutes and the bloody slaughter will begin. And on the reverse side of the coin is a man with a shield. But do they use a shield during an execution? It turns out that the thousand-year-old Velyaminov died on the battlefield. According to the generally accepted version, Mamai fled to the steppe after the defeat and in the same year he encountered a new enemy - Tokhtamysh Khan of the Zayaitsky Horde. They met on the banks of Kalka, where history repeated itself exactly. As on the Kulikovo field, poor Mamai was betrayed by his Lithuanian ally and was defeated.

If we consider that vowels were not used in ancient chronicles, then the names “Kalka” and “Kulikovo” are not just similar, but absolutely identical and consist of only three letters - KLK. In addition, coins have been preserved, on which on one side is stamped - Khan Tokhtamysh in Arabic; on the other in Russian - Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy. Historians are trying to explain this by the fact that the coins were minted on one side by Takhtamysh, and on the other side by Dmitry Donskoy.

But this can be explained in another way. Several languages were used in Rus': Russian, Arabic, Tatar. And on the same coin the name of the same ruler could be minted on both sides in two different languages. The presence of such is a fairly compelling argument in favor of the fact that Dmitry Donskoy and Khan Tokhtamysh are one and the same person.

So maybe there were not two different battles that are as similar to each other as two peas in a pod? And there was one - on the Kulikovo field. Where Prince Dmitry Donskoy, aka Khan Tokhtamysh, defeated the troops of the traitor Ivan Velyaminov, also known as Mamai.

There was no Mongol-Tatar yoke!

But in this case an even more unexpected question arises. Was there even a Mongol-Tatar yoke? In the light of new assumptions, it turns out that it was not. And there was a huge Russian-Horde empire, which in the second half of the fourteenth century was divided into three parts: the Golden Horde, the White Horde (or White Rus') and Little Russia (aka the Blue Horde).

The Golden Horde (another name for the Volga Kingdom) falls into prolonged and dangerous turmoil. Twenty-five rulers change in twenty-one years. There is a fierce struggle for the throne, which in 1380 is resolved by a grandiose battle on the Kulikovo Field.

The history of the distant fourteenth century requires further research. And most importantly, in the search for new documents and material evidence unknown to science. They are the ones who can confirm or refute the theories existing today. However, there are facts that are not in doubt. The Battle of Kulikovo really happened. It took place in 1380, and Dmitry Donskoy won it. And, of course, it is rightfully considered a symbol of the courage, valor and honor of Russian soldiers.

And one more interesting detail. Already today, in the center of Moscow on Krasnokholmskaya embankment, a cross has been erected on a granite base, which is engraved: “In this place, a monument will be erected to the blessed saint, Prince Dmitry Donskoy, defender of the Russian land. In the summer of 1992, September 25.”

Then the sculptor could not have known about the Moscow version of the battle. It just wasn't designed. But it so happened that the memorial cross is absolutely precisely oriented to the place where the legendary Kulikovo Field could have been located.

) Golden Horde.

Origin

Fight with Tokhtamysh

On September 8, 1380, Mamai’s army was defeated in the Battle of Kulikovo during a new campaign against the Moscow Principality, and his great misfortune was that on the Kulikovo field, the young Muhammad Bulak, proclaimed khan by him, died under whom Mamai was a beklarbek. The defeat on the Kulikovo field for Mamai was a heavy blow, but not fatal, but it helped the legitimate Khan Tokhtamysh to establish himself on the Golden Horde throne. Mamai wasted no time in gathering a new army in Crimea for the next campaign against Moscow. But as a result of the war with Khan Tokhtamysh, supported by Tamerlane, Mamai’s next attack on Rus' did not take place. A little later, in September 1380, a decisive battle took place between the troops of Mamai and Tokhtamysh. Historian V.G. Lyaskoronsky suggested that this battle “on Kalki” took place in the area of small rivers, the left tributaries of the Dnieper near the rapids. Historians S. M. Solovyov and N. M. Karamzin suggested that the battle took place on the Kalka River, not far from the place where the Mongols inflicted the first defeat on the Russians in 1223. There was no actual battle, since on the battlefield most of Mamai’s troops went over to the side of the legitimate Khan Tokhtamysh and swore allegiance to him. Mamai and the remnants of his loyal companions did not start bloodshed and fled to the Crimea, while his harem and noble women from the Jochi clan, whom Mamai cared for, were captured by Tokhtamysh. The victory of Tokhtamysh led to the establishment of legitimate power in the state, the end of a long internecine war (“Great Zamyatnya”) and the temporary strengthening of the Golden Horde until the clash with Tamerlane.

Death

Descendants of Mamai

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Notes

Literature

Scientific biography

Pochekaev R. Yu. Mamai: The story of an “anti-hero” in history (dedicated to the 630th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo). - St. Petersburg. : EURASIA, 2010. - 288 p. - (Clio). - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-91852-020-8.(in translation)
Gumilyov, Lev Nikolaevich. Ancient Rus' and the Great Steppe.. - St. Petersburg. : Crystal, 2002. - 767 p. - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5-306-00155-6.
Pochekaev R. Yu.// Mamai: Experience of a historiographic anthology: Collection of scientific works / Ed. V. V. Trepavlova, I. M. Mirgaleeva; Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan. Institute of History named after. Sh. Marjani, Center for Golden Horde Studies. - Kazan: Publishing House “Fen” of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, 2010. - P. 206-238. - 248 p. - (History and culture of the Golden Horde. Issue 13). - 600 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9690-0136-7.(region)

The era of the Battle of Kulikovo

Shennikov A. A.// Deposited in INION. - L., 1981. - No. 7380. - pp. 20-22.
Grigoriev A.P.
Petrov A. E..
(link unavailable since 12/23/2015 (1327 days))
Karyshkovsky P. O. Battle of Kulikovo. - M.: Gospolitizdat, 1955. - 64 p. - 100,000 copies.(region)
Kirpichnikov A. N. Battle of Kulikovo. - L.: Science. Leningr. department, 1980. - 120 p. - 10,000 copies.(region)
Zhuravel A.V.“AKA LIGHTNING ON A RAIN DAY.” In 2 books. - M.: “Russian Panorama”, “Russian Historical Society”, 2010. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-93165-177-4 (general);
- Book 1: The Battle of Kulikovo and its trace in history. - 424 p., ill. - ISBN 978-5-93165-178-1 (book 1).
- Book 2: The Legacy of Dmitry Donskoy. - 320 pp., ill. - ISBN 978-5-93165-179-8 (book 2).

Unity period

Ulus

Excerpt characterizing Mamai

But the princess, if she did not thank him in more words, thanked him with the whole expression of her face, beaming with gratitude and tenderness. She couldn't believe him, that she had nothing to thank him for. On the contrary, what was certain for her was that if he had not existed, she would probably have died from both the rebels and the French; that, in order to save her, he exposed himself to the most obvious and terrible dangers; and what was even more certain was that he was a man with a high and noble soul, who knew how to understand her situation and grief. His kind and honest eyes with tears appearing on them, while she herself, crying, talked to him about her loss, did not leave her imagination.
When she said goodbye to him and was left alone, Princess Marya suddenly felt tears in her eyes, and here, not for the first time, she was presented with a strange question: does she love him?
On the way further to Moscow, despite the fact that the princess’s situation was not happy, Dunyasha, who was riding with her in the carriage, more than once noticed that the princess, leaning out of the carriage window, was smiling joyfully and sadly at something.
“Well, what if I loved him? - thought Princess Marya.
Ashamed as she was to admit to herself that she was the first to love a man who, perhaps, would never love her, she consoled herself with the thought that no one would ever know this and that it would not be her fault if she remained without anyone for the rest of her life. speaking of loving the one she loved for the first and last time.
Sometimes she remembered his views, his participation, his words, and it seemed to her that happiness was not impossible. And then Dunyasha noticed that she was smiling and looking out the carriage window.
“And he had to come to Bogucharovo, and at that very moment! - thought Princess Marya. “And his sister should have refused Prince Andrei!” “And in all this, Princess Marya saw the will of Providence.
The impression made on Rostov by Princess Marya was very pleasant. When he remembered about her, he became cheerful, and when his comrades, having learned about his adventure in Bogucharovo, joked to him that, having gone for hay, he picked up one of the richest brides in Russia, Rostov became angry. He was angry precisely because the thought of marrying the meek Princess Marya, who was pleasant to him and with a huge fortune, came into his head more than once against his will. For himself personally, Nikolai could not wish for a better wife than Princess Marya: marrying her would make the countess - his mother - happy, and would improve his father’s affairs; and even - Nikolai felt it - would have made Princess Marya happy. But Sonya? And this word? And this is why Rostov got angry when they joked about Princess Bolkonskaya.

Having taken command of the armies, Kutuzov remembered Prince Andrei and sent him an order to come to the main apartment.
Prince Andrei arrived in Tsarevo Zaimishche on the very day and at the very time of the day when Kutuzov made the first review of the troops. Prince Andrei stopped in the village at the priest’s house, where the commander-in-chief’s carriage stood, and sat on a bench at the gate, waiting for His Serene Highness, as everyone now called Kutuzov. On the field outside the village one could hear either the sounds of regimental music or the roar of a huge number of voices shouting “hurray!” to the new commander-in-chief. Right there at the gate, ten steps from Prince Andrei, taking advantage of the prince’s absence and the beautiful weather, stood two orderlies, a courier and a butler. Blackish, overgrown with mustaches and sideburns, the little hussar lieutenant colonel rode up to the gate and, looking at Prince Andrei, asked: is His Serene Highness standing here and will he be there soon?
Prince Andrei said that he did not belong to the headquarters of His Serene Highness and was also a visitor. The hussar lieutenant colonel turned to the smart orderly, and the orderly of the commander-in-chief said to him with that special contempt with which the orderlies of the commander-in-chief speak to officers:
- What, my lord? It must be now. You that?
The hussar lieutenant colonel grinned into his mustache in the tone of the orderly, got off his horse, gave it to the messenger and approached Bolkonsky, bowing slightly to him. Bolkonsky stood aside on the bench. The hussar lieutenant colonel sat down next to him.
– Are you also waiting for the commander-in-chief? - the hussar lieutenant colonel spoke. “Govog”yat, it’s accessible to everyone, thank God. Otherwise, there’s trouble with the sausage makers! It’s not until recently that Yeg “molov” settled in the Germans. Now, maybe it will be possible to speak in Russian. Otherwise, who knows what they were doing. Everyone retreated, everyone retreated. Have you done the hike? - he asked.
“I had the pleasure,” answered Prince Andrei, “not only to participate in the retreat, but also to lose in this retreat everything that was dear to me, not to mention the estates and home... of my father, who died of grief.” I am from Smolensk.
- Eh?.. Are you Prince Bolkonsky? It’s great to meet: Lieutenant Colonel Denisov, better known as Vaska,” said Denisov, shaking Prince Andrei’s hand and peering into Bolkonsky’s face with especially kind attention. “Yes, I heard,” he said with sympathy and, after a short silence, continued : - Here comes the Scythian war. It’s all good, but not for those who take the puff on their own sides. And you are Prince Andgey Bolkonsky? - He shook his head. “It’s very hell, prince, it’s very hell to meet you,” he added again with a sad smile, shaking his hand.
Prince Andrei knew Denisov from Natasha's stories about her first groom. This memory, both sweet and painful, now transported him to those painful sensations that he had not thought about for a long time, but which were still in his soul. Recently, so many other and such serious impressions as leaving Smolensk, his arrival in Bald Mountains, the recent death of his father - so many sensations were experienced by him that these memories had not come to him for a long time and, when they did, had no effect on him. him with the same strength. And for Denisov, the series of memories that Bolkonsky’s name evoked was a distant, poetic past, when, after dinner and Natasha’s singing, he, without knowing how, proposed to a fifteen-year-old girl. He smiled at the memories of that time and his love for Natasha and immediately moved on to what was now passionately and exclusively occupying him. This was the campaign plan he came up with while serving in the outposts during the retreat. He presented this plan to Barclay de Tolly and now intended to present it to Kutuzov. The plan was based on the fact that the French line of operations was too extended and that instead of, or at the same time, acting from the front, blocking the way for the French, it was necessary to act on their messages. He began to explain his plan to Prince Andrei.
“They can’t hold this entire line.” This is impossible, I answer that they are pg"og"vu; give me five hundred people, I will kill them, it’s veg! One system is pag “Tisan.”
Denisov stood up and, making gestures, outlined his plan to Bolkonsky. In the middle of his presentation, the cries of the army, more awkward, more widespread and merging with music and songs, were heard at the place of review. There was stomping and screaming in the village.
“He’s coming himself,” shouted a Cossack standing at the gate, “he’s coming!” Bolkonsky and Denisov moved towards the gate, at which stood a group of soldiers (an honor guard), and saw Kutuzov moving along the street, riding a low bay horse. A huge retinue of generals rode behind him. Barclay rode almost alongside; a crowd of officers ran behind them and around them and shouted “Hurray!”
The adjutants galloped ahead of him into the courtyard. Kutuzov, impatiently pushing his horse, which was ambling under his weight, and constantly nodding his head, put his hand to the cavalry guard’s bad-looking cap (with a red band and without a visor) that he was wearing. Having approached the honor guard of fine grenadiers, mostly cavaliers, who saluted him, he silently looked at them for a minute with a commanding stubborn gaze and turned to the crowd of generals and officers standing around him. His face suddenly took on a subtle expression; he raised his shoulders with a gesture of bewilderment.
- And with such fellows, keep retreating and retreating! - he said. “Well, goodbye, general,” he added and started his horse through the gate past Prince Andrei and Denisov.
- Hooray! hooray! hooray! - they shouted from behind him.
Since Prince Andrei had not seen him, Kutuzov had grown even fatter, flabby, and swollen with fat. But the familiar white eye, and the wound, and the expression of fatigue in his face and figure were the same. He was dressed in a uniform frock coat (a whip hung on a thin belt over his shoulder) and a white cavalry guard cap. He, heavily blurring and swaying, sat on his cheerful horse.
“Whew... whew... whew...” he whistled barely audibly as he drove into the yard. His face expressed the joy of calming a man intending to rest after the mission. He took his left leg out of the stirrup, falling with his whole body and wincing from the effort, he lifted it with difficulty onto the saddle, leaned his elbow on his knee, grunted and went down into the arms of the Cossacks and adjutants who were supporting him.
He recovered, looked around with his narrowed eyes and, glancing at Prince Andrei, apparently not recognizing him, walked with his diving gait towards the porch.
“Whew... whew... whew,” he whistled and again looked back at Prince Andrei. The impression of Prince Andrei's face only after a few seconds (as often happens with old people) became associated with the memory of his personality.
“Oh, hello, prince, hello, darling, let’s go...” he said tiredly, looking around, and heavily entered the porch, creaking under his weight. He unbuttoned and sat down on a bench on the porch.
- Well, what about father?
“Yesterday I received news of his death,” Prince Andrei said briefly.
Kutuzov looked at Prince Andrei with frightened open eyes, then took off his cap and crossed himself: “The kingdom of heaven to him! May God's will be over us all! He sighed heavily, with all his chest, and was silent. “I loved and respected him and I sympathize with you with all my heart.” He hugged Prince Andrei, pressed him to his fat chest and did not let him go for a long time. When he released him, Prince Andrei saw that Kutuzov’s swollen lips were trembling and there were tears in his eyes. He sighed and grabbed the bench with both hands to stand up.
“Come on, let’s come to me and talk,” he said; but at this time Denisov, just as little timid in front of his superiors as he was in front of the enemy, despite the fact that the adjutants at the porch stopped him in angry whispers, boldly, knocking his spurs on the steps, entered the porch. Kutuzov, leaving his hands resting on the bench, looked displeased at Denisov. Denisov, having identified himself, announced that he had to inform his lordship of a matter of great importance for the good of the fatherland. Kutuzov began to look at Denisov with a tired look and with an annoyed gesture, taking his hands and folding them on his stomach, he repeated: “For the good of the fatherland? Well, what is it? Speak." Denisov blushed like a girl (it was so strange to see the color on that mustachioed, old and drunken face), and boldly began to outline his plan for cutting the enemy’s operational line between Smolensk and Vyazma. Denisov lived in these parts and knew the area well. His plan seemed undoubtedly good, especially from the power of conviction that was in his words. Kutuzov looked at his feet and occasionally glanced at the courtyard of the neighboring hut, as if he was expecting something unpleasant from there. A general with a briefcase under his arm actually appeared from the hut he was looking at during Denisov’s speech.
- What? – Kutuzov said in the middle of Denisov’s presentation. - Ready?
“Ready, your lordship,” said the general. Kutuzov shook his head, as if saying: “How can one person manage all this,” and continued to listen to Denisov.
“I give my honest, noble word to the Hussian officer,” said Denisov, “that I have confirmed Napoleon’s message.
- How are you doing, Kirill Andreevich Denisov, chief quartermaster? - Kutuzov interrupted him.
- Uncle of one, your lordship.
- ABOUT! “We were friends,” Kutuzov said cheerfully. “Okay, okay, darling, stay here at headquarters, we’ll talk tomorrow.” - Nodding his head to Denisov, he turned away and extended his hand to the papers that Konovnitsyn brought him.
“Would your lordship please welcome you to the rooms,” the general on duty said in a dissatisfied voice, “we need to consider the plans and sign some papers.” “The adjutant who came out of the door reported that everything was ready in the apartment. But Kutuzov, apparently, wanted to enter the rooms already free. He winced...