Würmser felt his mind buzz.
He had clearly confirmed that there were no French Army troops near Mantua before daring to come to Limone to pursue Napoleon.
Then where had the enemy surrounding Mantua sprung from?!
If Beaulieu had been present, he would probably have patted Würmser on the shoulder in fellow feeling and sighed, "You have finally experienced the nightmare I once endured."
Würmser's war council began swiftly, but the topic of discussion had already changed from "shaking off Napoleon's entanglement" to "relieving Mantua."
Early the next morning, having barely slept all night, Würmser left Ranieri with 6,000 men to cover the rear while he hurriedly withdrew toward Mantua with the main force.
Napoleon learned even earlier than Würmser that Desaix had surrounded Mantua. The previous night, he had ordered the Marmont Legion on the southern side of the battlefield to disengage and wait directly northwest of Mantua for the Austrian Army.
On his own side, he calmly launched an attack against the 6,000 enemy troops covering the rear.
Shortly after noon, the French Army, with its superior numbers, utterly routed the Ranieri Corps, then raced after Würmser without pause.
At two o'clock the following afternoon, Würmser's main force encountered Marmont's troops beside the Mincio River west of Mantua.
Eager to return to Mantua and lift the siege, Würmser had no desire to fight. He detached part of his forces to press these several thousand French Army troops northward, while the rest quickly crossed the river through the space they had won.
Marmont did not fight to the death to stop them either. Half an hour earlier, a Messenger had informed him that Napoleon's main force had arrived 6 kilometers to the northwest.
Just as the Austrian Army finished setting up the Pontoon Bridge and began crossing, fierce artillery