在滑铁卢，我专访了“拿破仑”！

烈日焦灼下，红蓝方块的碰撞

炮声是在接近正午时突然响起的。

第一颗炮弹就在距我十米左右处爆炸，翻出的泥土带着青草味儿溅在我脚下，弥漫的硝烟也遮蔽了好一会视野，至少一分多钟内我只能听到金属碰撞的 “哗啦”声以及军官竭力嘶吼出的口令声。等硝烟散去视野再度清晰，面前的场景已经变了模样：

穿红色长外套的英军原本在烈日炙烤下已经略显疲态，随着炮声却抖擞起了精神，排着整齐的队列将枪口齐刷刷指往一个方向。顺着他们枪口的方向望去，身穿深蓝色上衣的法军迈着坚定的步伐，在悠扬的军乐与铿锵的鼓点声中向英军发起了冲击。铁汉碰撞死不旋踵，红蓝两行队列相距几乎只有十几米，随着一排排枪声响起，两边都不断有人倒下，却没有任何一方露出丁点后退的意思。

The world suddenly turned mute, and all I could see were the mud balls, some with grass inside, flying at me.

Yes, a cannonball exploded about 10 meters away. When the blue smoke dispersed and my hearing recovered, I suddenly found the red coats squadron previously quite tired, bathing in the sunlight, lined in good order, pointing their guns to one direction. There, the French squadron, dressed in dark blue and in equally good discipline, approached firmly, their music band playing rhythm and drumming, the smoke of their firing visible and smellable.

The two battle teams stood in a stalemate — every time the gunshot came there were soldiers falling on each side, but neither showed any hint of retreating.

排成阵列相互射击的英军与法军。这种战术流行于十八世纪到十九世纪初的欧洲，双方互相射击、不做躲避，看哪方先在对方的火力打击下崩溃，也被戏称为“排队枪毙”战术。摄影：张周项

这是2025年6月29日的比利时小镇滑铁卢。1815年的这一天，这里爆发了著名的滑铁卢战役，曾称霸欧洲大陆十数年的法国军队被欧洲多国联军击败，第二次称帝的拿破仑从神坛上彻底跌落，欧洲历史翻开了新的篇章。从十几年前起，这里每年都会举行一次滑铁卢战役重现表演，以纪念210年前那场改变了欧洲命运的战役。

2025年是个整数年份，滑铁卢战役重现主办方高度重视，动员了2200名演员、100匹战马和25辆大炮，光火药就消耗了1.3吨，历时12个月准备，最终呈现给观众这个大场面。在笔者身旁爆炸的炮弹就是预先埋好的道具，战役重现通过这十几颗炮弹开场，让观众仿佛登上时光机，直接穿越到210年前的战场上，观看威灵顿公爵指挥的英军与皇帝拿破仑指挥的法军激烈碰撞。

法军攻势凶猛，除了日益密集的排枪外，还有发射起来地动山摇的大炮和挥舞着闪亮马刀的骑兵，多兵种立体火力全都往英军身上招呼。因为军服颜色而被戏称为“龙虾兵”的英军咬紧牙关不后退，双方都不断有伤兵被架出战场，迎接他们的是观众热烈的掌声与致意。

法国军队的“伤兵”与“尸体”。演员演技是过硬的，“尸体”们说不动就不动。摄影：张周项

战况焦灼间，普鲁士军团终于赶到。他们身穿与法军类似的深蓝色军服，区别在于袖口没有耀眼的红色道道。不过这支深蓝军团协助的却是穿红衣的英军一方，生力军的加入改变了胜负天平上的微弱平衡，在他们从侧翼发起的迅猛攻势下，法军终于开始后退了。

战场上这一退军心就退没了。在那个冷热兵器混杂的年代，退却意味着一支军队的成员之间不再有必胜的共识，于是法军的混乱一发不可收拾，只有核心骑兵簇拥着皇帝拿破仑和他的旗帜奔向战场一角。英国、普鲁士、荷兰这一方爆发出一阵胜利的欢呼声，历时一个半小时的战役重演宣告结束，拿破仑被整个欧洲合力击败。

按现场表演的惯例，主要演员是要绕场一周谢幕的。也正是在这时，令人费解的一幕出现了：失败者拿破仑骑在白马上，军容整齐斗志昂扬，反倒像凯旋归来一般。他所到之处，观众席爆发出一阵阵掌声与欢呼声，各种欧洲语言的“Napoleon”声量越来越大，竟汇聚成了一股节拍，向这位失败者致以真心的敬意。反倒是刚取得胜利的英军首领威灵顿公爵和普鲁士军首领布吕歇尔元帅，作为胜者跟着他一起游场，却只能分享他的荣耀。

我不理解。

Napoleon Bonaparte, the defeated emperor, sat tall on his white steed, his soldiers arrayed behind him in flawless ranks, their eyes alight with the fire of a battle long past yet never forgotten.

In that very moment, he looked not like a man defeated but like a conqueror reborn. As he rode by, the grandstands burst into waves of thunderous applause, and cries of “Napoleon!” rose in a dozen tongues, swelling into a single, relentless chant that shook the air — an echoing salute to the legend of the man who once ruled Europe. In his shadow trailed the victors — the Duke of Wellington and Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher — figures of history in their own right, yet here reduced to silent witnesses to the undying aura of the emperor they had just brought down.

德裔美国人，扮演法国皇帝拿破仑

带着不理解，我徒步追赶马匹，终于在宿营地找到了扮演拿破仑的演员。这位演员在欧美名气很大，叫马克·施耐德（Mark Schneider），听名字就知道他是一位德裔。果不其然，聊了几句他就表示，自己是美国人，母亲是法国人，父亲祖上则来自于德国。

笔者与“拿破仑”交谈。当天气温不下30摄氏度，他却从上午十点到晚上六点始终没有脱下长款大衣和厚重的皮靴。摄影：Nathan

我更不理解了。论血统，他至少父系祖上来自几乎被拿破仑征服的民族，是拿破仑倒台才让德意志民族获得喘息的机会；论地点，比利时也曾被拿破仑的大军与荷兰军队相继占领过，后来才获得独立。怎么这么一位德裔美国演员，却跑到比利时去演失败的法国皇帝，还虽败犹荣获得了全场的欢呼呢？

“一位失败者完全可以同时是一位英雄，”听完我的疑惑，施耐德似乎有些迫不及待地先回答了失败者拿破仑这个问题。“从某种意义上来说，我们都有失败的那一天，也都有离开这个世界的那一天，但我们终究奋斗过、辉煌过，这种奋斗本身就值得人们喝彩与尊重。”

为演好拿破仑，施耐德是下了一番工夫的，读了不少版本的拿破仑传记和相关的历史。在他看来，拿破仑在人们心中的形象并不是高高在上的帝王将相，而是一位很容易让大家想到自己身边人的平民英雄。拿破仑出生于被法国吞并的科西嘉岛，家里就是个普通乡绅，当时连纯正的法国人都算不上，刚到法国读书时还因为磕磕巴巴的法语被人嘲笑。再加上他个子小，在依靠勇武的军队中本就不占优势，最后能脱颖而出，这简直是逆袭人生，是老百姓最爱看的爽文剧本。

所以至少在欧洲，人们更倾向于从个人奋斗的视角去理解拿破仑，把他塑造成一位悲情英雄。人们爱的是貌不惊人的他在那个时代竟奋斗成了军事传奇，从科西嘉岛的农村一路奋斗进了巴黎的皇宫，还建立了后人难以复制的伟业。

从这个角度看，当战败的拿破仑离场之时，人们的欢呼声不再难以理解——他们致敬的对象本来就不是曾经的法国皇帝，而是那个科西嘉岛的小个子，那个出身穷乡僻壤却几乎一统欧洲大陆的传奇。传奇辉煌过就已经足够，即使最终陨落不可避免，也丝毫不会影响人们对他的爱戴。

To generations across Europe, Napoleon is not merely an emperor cloaked in velvet and crowned in gold, but a hero sprung from the crowd — a man whose story could almost be one’s own, writ impossibly large. Born on the rough, wind-swept island of Corsica, absorbed into France only by conquest, he came from the humblest thread of country gentry, which was even hardly French enough to stand among Paris's sons. When he arrived in the heart of France, a boy with awkward French and a fierce Corsican accent, they mocked him for every syllable.

He was slight, too small for the brute ranks of soldiers who measured worth in muscle and swagger, yet from these ranks he rose, and rose, and rose again, until he commanded legions and crowned himself emperor in the palaces of kings. His life was an underdog's legend, the kind of myth that common folk hold close to the chest when they dream of miracles.

No wonder, at least in Europe, Napoleon is cherished not simply as a ruler but as a tragic warrior-hero, a man whose greatness was carved not by birth but by unstoppable drive. People do not worship the gold on his shoulders but the dirt on his boots, the sheer audacity that carried him from Corsica's rocky coasts to the throne of an empire that once dared to bind a continent beneath his banner.

When the beaten emperor departs the stage, the waves of applause make sense. They do not salute the fallen monarch but the small, wiry Corsican boy who once almost united Europe through force of will alone. A legend needs not to last forever to be worthy of love; its brilliance lies in how brightly it once burned, and the way that final fall only makes its flame glow deeper in the hearts of those who still whisper his name.

自从这场战役之后，滑铁卢（Waterloo）这个地名在多个语言中成为了形容词，用来形容一个人职业生涯的惨败。多少人都遭遇了滑铁卢，但唯独对拿破仑自己，滑铁卢并没有终结他的神话。

“拿破仑”向他的军乐队成员表达谢意。为尽量贴近历史真实，选择的演员个子比较矮，与随从站在一起身高差距明显。摄影：张周项

法国的拿破仑，也是欧洲的

至于第二个问题，笔者面前的“拿破仑”更希望谈一谈欧洲史。欧洲各国的历史本来就是交织在一起的，很难分清哪部分是单纯的法国史、德国史或者荷兰史。再加上过去几十年一体化的欧洲刻意淡化民族主义叙事，在很大程度上导致国别史界限相对模糊不清，大家并不刻意区分自己是法国人德国人或者比利时人，而是有一个共同的身份欧洲人。

这点从参演阵容上看得更加明显。与所有展现宏大场面的剧作一样，这场滑铁卢之战重现除了拿破仑等主角用的是专业演员之外，还有大量的群众演员志愿参演士兵等配角，剧组提前很久就开始征集。“拿破仑”是德裔美国人，其他被选中的演员也来自于全世界，有比利时本地的，也有东欧跑来的，还有英国人跨越海峡过来的，甚至都有从阿根廷横穿整个大西洋飞过来的。

无论是哪里来的，聚集在这里后都会重新分组，穿上不同的军装加入不同的方队。光一个英军方阵里就有西班牙人、比利时人、阿根廷人等等等等，法军和普军方阵里也是人才济济。

当然也有一定要加入本国方阵的。这位老兄名叫文森特·劳（Vincent Law），来自英国，参加的是英军方阵，他穿的深绿色军服是其精英部队的标志，这支部队主要由当过猎手的士兵组成。从2008年起他只要有机会就坚持参加滑铁卢战役重现，已经十几年了。

不过这位老兄表示，他的曾曾曾曾祖父（great-great-great-great-grandfather）就曾在这支英军中服役，参加过滑铁卢战役。所以他坚持扮演英军，很难说他背后的考虑更多是民族还是家族，相信是二者都有。

There were also some who insisted on joining the ranks of their own country’s contingent. One such participant was Vincent Law, a British man who marched with the British column, dressed in a deep green uniform — the mark of an elite unit made up mostly of former hunters. Since 2008, he has seized every chance to take part in the Waterloo reenactment, a passion that has lasted more than a decade.

Vincent explained that his great-great-great-great-grandfather had served in the same British unit and fought at the Battle of Waterloo. That is why he insists on portraying a British soldier — it is hard to say whether his choice is driven more by national pride or by family legacy. Maybe a mix of both.

英国士兵扮演者，英国人文森特·劳（Vincent Law）。摄影：张周项

这场剧作的导演蒂博·丹廷（Thibault Danthine）也是这么想的。在接受笔者专访时，他表示，他们之所以要重现滑铁卢战役，首要的原因就是为了铭记历史。

“210年前的今天，是欧洲历史上最重要的一天。”他背靠着狮子山侃侃而谈，“发生在我们脚下的那场战役改变了欧洲的历史走向，给我们这块大陆带来了持续百年的整体和平。”

他说的基本符合史实——1815年后，欧洲虽然战火不断，却基本都是两三个国家参与的局部战争。再出现全欧洲都被卷入的大战，就要到1914年了。所以他们不断演绎这一天，就是为了珍视历史，让战争不再重演。

演练中的“伤亡”士兵下场，终于能脱下闷热的外套，在场地旁休息一会。确实很苦，但总比流血的战争强。摄影：张周项

在场随机刷出来的几位观众也是这么想的。毕竟欧洲已经很多年没有打过仗了，反倒容易让人们轻视战争，以为不过是游戏。一场战役重现下来，让人们感受下震地的炮火刺鼻的硝烟，至少能了解到真实的战场上那种压迫感，在不真正流血的情况下直面战争的残酷。

滑铁卢战役纪念馆后院。摄影：张周项

滑铁卢战役纪念馆的后院有座纪念雕塑，是两个在战斗中的士兵。笔者结束采访离开时，恰恰看到雕塑对面的墙根下，一名士兵脱下外套乘凉，一边用我们听不懂的某种小众语言打着电话，语气中充满着兴奋。

这一场景，我愿称之为“战争与和平”。

In the courtyard behind the Waterloo Battlefield Memorial stands a bronze sculpture of two soldiers locked in eternal struggle. As I finished my interviews and turned to leave, I caught sight of a quiet scene across from the statue: beneath the shadow of the wall, a reenactor had slipped off his heavy coat and was resting in the cool shade. He spoke into his phone in a language I could not place — something soft, lilting, and unfamiliar — his voice brimming with quiet excitement.

What about calling the moment War and Peace?

记者：张周项

实习生：宋怡璇

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