68% done with War and Peace

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A ukase, or ukaz in Imperial Russia, was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader (patriarch) that had the force of law.

Martial law is in effect because the “lower classes” are going to turn to killing each other without law and order. “How can one do without government?”

Tolstoy is not very subtle or nuanced in how he writes the lower classes.