Regardless of the fallen portion of the wall left of the gatehouse, the bombardment persisted a little while longer until a portion of the wall right of the gatehouse had fallen. Now the Maldenberg army had to entrances into the city. The rubble was piled up, it was fair fair-sized mound to scale before entering the city.
With the cannon fire halted, Grand Duke Maldenberg ordered his infantry to begin their advance. In 2, 24-man wide columns, the infantry of Maldenberg began their advance. Each column was made up of 4, 10,000 infantryman divisions.
To drums and flutes, the infantrymen of Maldenberg marched to conquer the city they once called home. Each step perfectly in rhythm with the man next to them. Their faces hardened with the resolve to fight to the bitter end, many of them knew that failure here would mean the end of the Grand Duchy of Maldenberg.
The Maldenberg infantry staggered their way up the rocky mound of rubble. They slowly but safely traversed the uneven path until they reached the apex of the mound. When they reached the top of the mound, they were met with a volley of musket balls. Luxenberg infantrymen were deployed near the fallen sections of the wall and pounced on the chance making the mound taller.
Both destroyed sections of the southern wall were heavily guarded, and the real struggle for the Maldenberg army began. They would have to fight through the maelstrom of musket balls flying towards them. The width of each destroyed section of the wall was about an 18-man wide gap, however, it made it hard for the Maldenberg army to use their slight numerical advantage.
The destroyed sections were the first set of kill boxes that General Bertrand planned. He deployed a couple thousand well-trained line infantry and skirmishers to delay and deny the entrance of the enemy army into the city. The unrelenting volleys made by these soldiers made it a treacherous task for the Maldenberg infantry to secure a toehold.
Despite the fact the Maldenberg soldiers had to climb over their dead comrades, they continued their push into the city. Slowly, they were able to descend the mounds of rubble and establish a toe hold, not without sustaining a fair amount of casualties, a few thousand to be specific.
When the Luxenberg soldiers became aware of the disadvantage they were at they began a fighting retreat through the three main roads. While they were retreating the Maldenberg army was able to break through some of the barricades near the gatehouse and amply secure it.
Arthur Maldenberg who was standing at a safe distance near his camp peered through his spyglass to see the gates had been opened by his forces and saw his coat of arms fly atop the gatehouse once more. At the sight of this, Arthur signalled for 8,000 cavalrymen to charge and assist the infantry.
While the cavalry was charging towards the city the infantrymen of the Maldenberg army were battling on the three main deserted streets of Archenshien. The primary street ran through the middle of the city while the other 2 ran around the edge of the city. Any small side street connected to those roads was blocked with wooden barricades and carts.
There was no noise from any of the houses as the fighting began to drag into the residential areas if the city. Victor had made sure beforehand to relocate citizens to the northern part of the city, so they would not get caught in the battle, keeping collateral damage to a minimum was imperative for Victor.
With the streets clear of any civilians the battle was contained to these 3 streets. The Maldenberg infantrymen had pushed back the Luxenberg soldiers to a defensive position, which was halfway from the city centre. Each position had 6 cannons and a lot of infantrymen waiting. On the outer roads, they had the assistance of infantrymen stationed along the wall.
The Maldenberg forces halted for a second to assess what was before them, but by the time they did that, all the retreating infantrymen from the wall defences had gotten behind the cannons. Once out of the crossfire, the Luxenberg cannons erupted, launching canister shots into the tightly compacted enemy infantry.
They were eviscerated, all 3 defensive positions across the city were using these roads as a choke point and making use of canister shots from cannons. Dozens if not hundreds of bodies were torn apart in an instant on each road. Their disfigured corpse sprinkled the road and turned the cobble red.
It was a precarious position for the Maldenberg forces, especially the soldiers fighting on the outer roads, they had to deal with the main defensive positions as well as enemy infantry stationed on top of the wall. Persisting through was the only way to attain victory, consequently, it would mean the dramatic loss of life on both sides.
Nevertheless, the Maldenberg army was intent on retaking this city. They advanced into the raging storm of canister shots and musket balls, many infantrymen and eventually cavalrymen would be torn to shreds, officers and footmen alike were indiscriminately ravaged during this storm.
Bodies began to pile high and blood flooded the roads, the only decent outcome of such disastrous casualties was the fact the Maldenberg soldiers could use the heap of dead bodies as cover to hide from the vicious onslaught of enemy fire.
Inch by inch, the Maldenberg forces fought their way to gain ground and draw closer to the Luxenberg positions. The fighting was ruthless, while thousands of Luxenberg defenders were dying, tens of thousands were being slain on the Maldenberg side.
By the time the Maldenberg forces reached the defensive line on each road, they had already lost 30,000 infantrymen and 4,000 cavalrymen, whereas the Luxenberg men had lost 10,000 soldiers and all 18 cannons. They had managed to push into the heart of the town. All 3 roads lead to the city square and the Maldenberg palace.
Battered and bleeding, the soldiers of Maldenberg pushed the retreating Luxenberg soldiers to the city square but were greeted by the majority of the Luxenberg army. To make matters worse the entirety of the Luxenberg cavalry who had been stationed in the northern part of the city were beginning to charge down the outer roads and flank the battle-weary soldiers.
The outer road forces were thoroughly crushed, Luxenberg cavalrymen broke the rear of the Maldenberg forces while at the front, they were facing a barrage of more bullets and canister shots. They were trapped, the only Maldenberg force detachment that had an easier path was the men going up the centre road and that was because they did not have to worry about the cavalry.
A few hours had passed and the 80,000 infantrymen and the 8,000 cavalry of the Maldenberg vanguard were slaughtered while only 30,000 infantrymen, 3,000 cavalrymen and 40 cannons were lost on the Luxenberg side.
With only 21,000 infantrymen, 5,00 cavalrymen and 100 guns, the near future was bleak for Maldenberg