Once the breaches were secured by the Luxenberg soldiers, they waited for more of their comrades to enter the city before going further inward. They needed to not rush in senselessly, otherwise they would face a similar fate to those who breached Osterbon during the Gu Army's invasion.
Soldiers poured through the breaches in disciplined waves—muskets ready, bayonets fixed. They advanced not with the wild joy of a charge, but with the cold weight of purpose. Securing the Gu Palace and its owner was the primary mission for them. If successful, the war would be fast-tracked, and the fighting might cease altogether.
As each group advanced, they were met with constant resistance, and each bend in a street had a group of defenders waiting to inflict more casualties on the invading army. At first, the garrison was surprisingly effective in defending the city. Their initial defensive positions and their secondary positions were all well organised; however, once the city was infested with a swarm of Luxenberg soldiers, the garrison was overrun.
The lack of experience from the garrison made it hard for them to withstand the pressure of an experienced army that outnumbered them. Many defenders perished in dozens, unable to escape the storm of musketballs flying their way. To their credit, the defenders had set up a few good ambushes that turned hundreds of Luxenberg soldiers into Swiss cheese.
Their efforts were valuable; they had inflicted many casualties and slowed down the Luxenberg Army's advance towards the heart of the city. The garrison had done the best they could, but they were no match for Victor's well-trained and experienced army.
The true test of this siege was storming the Gu Palace. It was fortified with thick stone walls and defended by 3,000 of Gu Tian's elite soldiers, the Veiled Soldiers. On top of that, there were a couple of dozen cannons lining the wall, and they were not afraid to fire into the city if need be.
The Gu Palace's defence proved to be a major obstacle for the Luxenberg Army. They first tried to ascend the walls with climbing hooks since the walls were not that tall, but they were easily repelled by the Veiled Soldiers. They may have lacked the numbers, but the high ground was a serious advantage for them. Even when they were stretched thin on three sides, they still remained poised and effective.
After seeing that the climbing hooks were not helping them progress, the Luxenberg soldiers relied on using their numerical advantage to shoot down many of the defenders. While doing this, they managed to kill a few hundred men of the Veiled Soldiers, yet even with those deaths, they still suffered triple the casualties. General Lasalle was even shot in the chest; however, the musketball avoided any major organ.
With the Luxenberg soldiers faltering, Victor decided to order his men to pull back from the palace and create a perimeter throughout the city. Once that was done, Victor then ordered the rocket artillery to be brought into the city. They would use that to deal with defenders atop the palace walls.
30 pieces of rocket artillery were distributed evenly between the three fronts. They had an ample amount of ammunition, so they could keep up a long bombardment. By the time everything was all set up and ready to go, the afternoon sun was cranking up the heat. Sweat dripped from the soldiers who had been fighting for half the day, their uniforms darkening around the chest, back and armpit regions.
Victor was content with using the rocket artillery in this situation. The palace walls had no other buildings near the outside of them. With no civilian buildings near the walls, Victor could fire as many rockets as he liked and did not have to worry about collateral damage.
With the auburn sun slowly setting, the skyline lit up as rockets launched from their ramps, hurling towards the palace walls. Their screeching noise caused nearby civilians to cower in fear.
Boom! Boom! Thunderous explosions disoriented the Veiled Soldiers guarding the walls. Some were blown off them while others were slightly thrown off balance. The repeated bombardment of rockets made defending the walls a death sentence for anyone on them.
What was worse was that the artillerymen on the walls could not accurately locate where the rockets were coming from. Since the rocket artillery had vastly superior range, it made it hard for cannons atop the palace walls to return fire.
Volley after volley of rockets ravaged the defensive positions on the wall to the point where the defending Veiled Soldiers had to pull back to their secondary defensive positions in the courtyard. Their numbers had been cut down to half of their original strength.
Since the defenders had pulled back from their positions atop the walls, the rocket artillery adjusted their aim to hit further into the palace compound. They would act as a cover fire while the infantry began to ascend their climbing hooks on all sides.
One by one, soldiers scaled their climbing hooks as they ascended the stone walls protecting the palace. At the top of the wall, they were greeted by the sight of mangled corpses that painted the grey stone red.
Before they could fully examine the top of the wall, they were greeted with more musketfire from below. The Veiled Soldiers did not waste any time; they were quick to put up a resistance. If the Luxenberg Army wanted to enter the palace, they would have to get through them first.
Luxenberg skirmishers were using the regular line infantry as bait so that they could effectively snipe the Veiled Soldiers. Many of these skirmishers were either Russian Jaegers or men of the 95th Foot Rifles. Their skills with a rifle were superior to everyone else, with each shot from their rifle, one less Veiled Soldier remained.
Although the Veiled Soldiers were the most elite unit of the Gu Army, they were not immortal; they could not hope to prevail over an enemy that outnumbered them astronomically. Even though they put up a fierce resistance, their numbers dwindled greatly during the firefight.
Once the palace courtyard was cleared, the Luxenberg soldiers secured the gatehouse and let in the rest of their forces.