By 1809 the two emperors are so much in accord that Alexander sends troops when Napoleon declares war on Austria. There is talk of a match between one of the tsar's sisters and Bonaparte. Despite political friendship or enmity, international scheming or wars, Tolstoy says, life, meanwhile — real life, with its essential interests of health and sickness, toil and rest, its intellectual interests in thought, science, poetry, music, love, friendship, hatred, and passions — goes on as usual.
Prince Andrey quietly and efficiently frees 300 serfs by making them"free cultivators," replaces forced labor with a rent system, hires a priest to teach reading and writing to peasant children, and provides midwives. These are among the earliest reforms in Russia. Throughout the past two years he spent at Bogutcharovo, Andrey has kept up with current affairs and knows more about the world than do his city visitors.
In spring of 1809, on the way to inspect his Ryazan estates (his son's inheritance), Andrey spies an ancient gnarled oak whose limbs are yet unadorned with blossoms. He agrees with the grim tree: Let others — the young — yield to the fraud of life, he says, but we who are experienced know life is finished. Bolkonsky pays an obligation-visit to the marshal of Ryazan, Count Ilya Rostov. As his carriage drives down the avenue, Bolkonsky sees a slim girl, running and laughing with some companions. She seems to personify the creature-awakening of springtime. In his room later that night, he is unable to sleep. From his open window he hears the rustle of a dress at the floor above and realizes Natasha is silently gazing at the beauty of the soft, clear night. Sonya calls her cousin to sleep but Natasha is too enraptured with the spring air to stir. Suddenly Andrey's soul is again kindled with youthful hopes and ideas. He is so disturbed by this confutation of his life for the past years he forces himself to sleep.
