Just then, Massena and a staff officer strode quickly into the tent.
Moreau rose lazily, lifted his hat in salute, and said, "I'm delighted to see you on such a bitterly cold day, General Massena. It fills me with incomparable warmth. Chess today, or shall we continue discussing opera?"
His camp was very close to Massena's, and the two often came and went between them.
Massena motioned for the staff officer to hand Moreau the standard document from Shap Signal Tower, and said gravely:
"This is an order just sent by General Staff Headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel. Your troops are to be ready to move out within two days."
"Move out?" Moreau unfolded the order in puzzlement, and wild delight immediately appeared on his face. "Cross the river? Thank the Crown Prince—he finally remembered me!"
But he soon looked at Massena with some uncertainty. "General, are you sure I'm only to be given fifteen thousand men...
"If we're attacking Bavaria, we'll have to push deep into the German heartland. I'm afraid that few troops won't be quite safe enough, will it?"
The order from General Staff Headquarters was for him to lead four regiments of the Royal Third Infantry Division, several royal Skirmisher Battalions, and one artillery battalion north at once to Strasbourg, then cross the Rhine from there, pass through Baden, and strike straight at Bavaria.
Massena nodded. "Do you know why General Staff Headquarters has kept us waiting motionless in Alsace all this time?"
"I suppose it was waiting for changes on other battlefields."
"Your mind is always so nimble," Massena said. "Just yesterday, Alvinzi's main force reached Mantua, with more than eighty-five thousand men.
"In other words, Austria can no longer pull out any troops to reinforce Bavaria.
"And General Staff Headquarters has not assigned you any specific