Hours of cannon would result in neither side making any real progress in the siege. The exchange of cannon balls may have been tumultuous but did not deal any lasting damage. Archenshien's walls remained in relatively good order while the artillery stationed upon them did not sustain many casualties.
Out of the 270 guns deployed on the walls, only 20 of them were destroyed along with their crews. Whereas the Maldenberg army lost 75 cannons and their crews. At this rate, they would lose all their artillery before breaching the walls of the Archenshien.
Grand Duke Maldenberg could only scoff and regret building such an impenetrable wall around his city. In his arrogance, he never considered the possibility of besieging the city, if he did he would have added a secret entrance of a weak point.
By day's end, the exchange of cannon fire stopped and both sides retired for the evening. Victor was pleased with how well the walls held and how the artillerymen performed in a siege defence. In the 3 wars, Victor had been a part of, his army had never been in a defensive siege.
In the Maldenberg camp only grumbles and headaches were present. For 6 hours, their bombardment did no significant damage to the defences of Archenshien. They could not send in the infantry due to not having ladders or climbing hooks sufficient enough to scale the towering walls.
"Men, I need ideas. How do we conquer this city?" Arthur asked his advisors. The few men stood around a table, perplexed about how to tackle this challenge. Duke Vasselle in particular was straining his brain trying to conjure a way to take the city.
Many minutes passed and Duke Vasselle was the first to convey his thoughts. "My lord I hate to say this but maybe we should look to defending our final remaining territories. The Fontaine forces will be sure to begin an offensive. We can not afford to waste time in a siege while we lose all of our cities."
Many of the Adjutants nodded in agreement. Duke Vasselle was adamant about defending, his city was 1 of the remaining 2. The men around the table were slowly coming to a total consensus. All that remained was Grand Duke Maldenberg. One of the lower-ranking adjutants chimed in to reinforce the suggestion.
"Duke Vasselle is right my lord. If today was any indication of how the siege will progress, then we are sure to expect a long siege and we may not even be able to breach the walls. If that is the case then we will be an army with no lands."
Arthur reluctantly nodded, he was aware that today's inability to make progress stunted any chances of turning his fortune around. He had hoped that his cannons were up to the task of breaching the walls. Ideally, he wanted to take the city within 3 days and begin to recapture the other cities such as Bourbon and Gamburg.
With a long defeated sigh, Arthur went against his advisor's wishes. "We shall focus on retaking my city. If I am correct, we are already too late to defend the likes of Inglefeller and Konitz. Taking Archenshien is the only way for us to escape ruin. Am I understood?" The advisors could not dare oppose Arthur's will, reluctantly they all nodded in submission.
Nobody could come up with an alternative solution to how they would approach this siege. If the survival of their faction was reliant on this singular siege then Grand Duke Maldenberg needed a surefire way to achieve victory, however, the idea of this victory was hidden from them all.
The outcome of their meeting was fruitless, no one could come up with a feasible plan that would ensure a quick ending to the siege. With no clear strategy in mind, the Maldenberg army continued their bombardment, however, they focused all cannons on the southern wall, where the gate was.
As the sun rose to signal the beginning of the day, so did it signal the beginning of the bombardment. Like a rooster's morning call, the screeching sound of cannon fire woke the entire city from his slumber. Luxenberg artillerymen rushed to arm their cannon and return fire.
Like the previous day, hours of cannon fire ensued, but unlike the day before, cracks in the wall were beginning to appear. The concentrated firepower of 200 cannons was able to start cracking the seemingly indomitable walls of Archenshien. At the same time, the Luxenberg artillery was returning fire and taking out the Maldenberg cannons.
The entire second day of the siege was just another skirmish of cannons. The southern wall had taken significant damage and was depleted to about a third of its original strength. In the process, the Luxenberg army lost another 50 cannons whereas the Maldenberg army had lost 100.
Arthur Maldenberg was most pleased with this development of the siege, his persistence and faith in his artillery were duly rewarded. By his artillery officer's guess, the wall would crumble by the following day's end, but they were not the only ones who knew this fact.
In the Maldenberg palace, Victor and his commanders were strategising on how to defend the city when the walls fell. Marshal Soult pointed out that the section of the wall left of the gate was the weakest, it would be the first to fall. In the event of the walls collapsing, the streets of Archenshien would be the new battleground for this siege.
"When the southern walls collapse we will need to turn the streets into killing fields, if we set up our defences properly we can box the enemy in and wipe them out. The streets may be wide but we have an abundant amount of infantrymen to pull this off. We are only slightly outnumbered, with sudes and proper barricades the enemy will have no chance," General Bülow stated.
"In my opinion, my lord, we let them destroy the walls and focus solely on defending the streets. The 3 main roads through the city should have defensive positions set up with a few cannons, some canister shots will rip them apart," General Bertrand mentioned.
Victor turned to General Tauentzien who agreed with Bertrand. Marshal Soult and Bessières also believed that General Bertrand's plan was their best option. With all the commanders in agreement, Victor ordered his men to work through the night to take down any artillery and supplies left on the wall.
Once the sun rose on the third day of the siege, the Maldenberg cannons resumed their bombardment. Unopposed by enemy artillery, Arthur's cannons were unyielding in their barrage. Stone was chipping from the walls, each blow from a cannonball further weakening it.
Just after mid-day, a portion of the wall left of the gatehouse fell.