- Pierre gets back to Moscow on August 30 and goes to see Rastopchin, the governor. Rastopchin isn’t ready to see him, so Pierre hangs out with some officials who are fuming and fussing about the latest propaganda poster Rastopchin has printed.
- It basically says that Rastopchin has it on solid authority that the army will defend Moscow to the end.
- Pierre is all, um, that’s not true.
- The officials are like, yes, we know. That’s why this is such a terrible thing to be telling the residents of the city.
- Pierre suddenly notices an old guy in the office – it’s the father of Vereshchagin, a young man accused, without much evidence, of treason and spying. Rastopchin has clearly made him a scapegoat to explain the French advancing on Moscow. Stay tuned for the really sad development of this side story.