 Later, a search party finds Zurov murdered on the battlefield, apparently stabbed by gendarme Colonel Kazanzaki, whom dying Zurov managed to shoot.Pyotr unsuccessfully tries to hang himself, feeling responsibility for the carnage and defeat as he left the telegram unguarded when he went to welcome Varya and then sent it without checking; for the spy, knowing the not too strong Russian cipher, it was easy to replace it.Three attempts to storm Plevna having failed, the Russian and Romanian armies besiege the city.