Oudinot came forward in high spirits and said to Massena, "General, just as you said, we defeated the enemy in only one night."
Massena smiled and shook his head. "That was only one enemy detachment. The real battle has not yet begun."
Although Oudinot had slept for only three hours, he still seemed extremely fired up. "General, Hotze should have fled toward Zurich. I am confident I can catch him within two days!"
Massena merely patted him on the shoulder. "You have already done exceptionally well. There is no need to be so impatient now. The soldiers need some rest as well."
Oudinot hurriedly said, "But he may escape Switzerland. You told me..."
"Do not worry. He will not get away." Massena remained calm and composed. "Someone will intercept him there."
"Ah? You mean General Davout?"
"No, General Sérurier. He should already have reached the vicinity of Basel."
Oudinot's eyes widened. "How is that possible? I remember he was supposed to be in Karlsruhe."
Now that the Swiss campaign had begun, Massena had nothing left to keep secret. "Do you know why His Highness the Crown Prince deployed three Army Groups to Karlsruhe?"
"This... why?"
Three Army Groups meant more than a hundred thousand soldiers—without question the strongest field army currently available.
Oudinot suddenly thought of his own troops. Had they not been detached from the First Army Corps?
"So we were not the only ones detached from the Baden Army?"
Massena nodded. "Indeed. His Highness massed heavy forces in Baden precisely to make the Allied Forces wary of attacking there rashly.
"But in truth, we secretly left that place a month and a half ago. General Sérurier's thirty thousand soldiers of the Fourth Army Group also withdrew in batches to Belfort, then proceeded from there to Basel."
Oudinot frowned.