When the city lord asked this question, his subordinates didn't know how to answer. After all, although they had signed an alliance with the Arab Empire, the treaty had not yet been sent to the emperor of the Arab Empire. It was not until the military advisor arrived in the capital that they realized they had been deceived.

This so-called alliance was not the intention of the Emperor of the Arab Empire at all, but the intention of Marshal Sukhguman. He himself could not defeat the Tang army, and had no way to explain to the Caliph of the Arab Empire, so this guy came up with such a trick.

They hoped to use the Byzantine Empire's diplomatic documents to force the Caliph of the Arab Empire to conclude an alliance. Now the Byzantine Empire's foreign minister has passed away, and as to whether the alliance can be signed, it is still another matter.

The Byzantine Empire knew that they had been deceived, but they had no other choice but to listen obediently. Just look at the Tang Dynasty troops in front of them and you will know that if they have no allies and rely solely on their own strength, after the Red Dragon City is breached, perhaps the entire country's million-strong army will have to be deployed.

Of course, according to the thinking of the top leaders, the sacrifice of a million troops is not unacceptable. If we can sacrifice a million troops to save the country, then it is still acceptable, but if we cannot save it, then some things are hard to say, especially in the current situation.

The Byzantine Empire also caused serious natural disasters. A quarter of the people in the country had no food to eat. The little money in the treasury had to be used for disaster relief. But now they had to fight a war, and the money in the treasury was a bit stretched. But domestic spending could not be reduced. If you don't care about the lives of the people, it is estimated that peasant uprisings will break out everywhere next month.

The Tang Empire was fighting wars externally, and these peasant enterprises were draining their wealth internally. For the entire Byzantine Empire, they really could not hold on, so they had to come up with important and precious financial resources to help these farmers tide over the difficulties.

Seeing the embarrassed looks on his men's faces, the city lord knew what was going on. They were very angry about the Arab Empire's deception and even wanted to kill the military advisor.

But the Byzantine Empire's top officials also said that killing a person is very easy. We can just have one of our warriors chop off his head. But after chopping off the head, do you know what to do next? If your army is really capable, then we don't need to form an alliance with any country. We can even occupy their land.

But don't you have that ability? The battle in Red Dragon City has already made it clear. Whether fighting on the city walls or fighting under the walls, we have no advantage at all. So in this situation, we must have an ally. Only by opening up two fronts together can we contain the progress of the Tang army.

Unfortunately, the distance between the two countries is too far. Even if they can communicate well, there are too many ambitious people in both countries. They can't really cooperate. Each of them only has their own things to do, and they all want the other party to contribute. This kind of alliance is actually the most terrifying. In the end, it is very likely that it will be worse than fighting alone.

"Lord City Lord, we have also formed an army of 3,000 people. Although there are fewer civilians in the city, there are more troops coming out from all directions. Currently, there are more than 90,000 troops in the city, and our food reserves are also very sufficient, enough for us to eat for more than two months."

Some officials saw the smile fade from the city lord's face and immediately prepared to share some good news. However, this good news was nothing to be happy about for the city lord. Although more and more troops were arriving, we still had no way to contain the Tang army's artillery. If this fundamental problem could not be solved, what was the point of sending more troops? They would just be there for others to see.

Moreover, the supplies in the city are not of much use. These things seem useful now, but if we cannot withstand the attack of the Tang army, this city will sooner or later belong to others, and these things may very likely become the property of the Tang army. By that time, it will be too late for us to cry.

"Send people to collect a large amount of lamp oil and copper oil, and place these things near the granary. If we cannot defend this city, have them burn all the food immediately. Although food is very precious now, if we don't burn it, it may become rations for the Tang army. Then they won't need to transport food from far away Chang'an, and we will suffer even more."

Originally everyone had smiles on their faces, but after hearing what the city lord said, the smiles on more than half of the people's faces froze. They thought this was a good thing, but after hearing what the city lord said, it seemed that they had to prepare more of these flammable materials, otherwise they would really become aids to the enemy.

The atmosphere on the city wall was extremely depressing. Those present had no other choice. Seeing that the Tang army had no intention of attacking today, the city lord prepared to go back and rest. He had slept no more than four hours a day these days, and his experience had reached its limit. If there were a few more artillery exercises tonight, he would not be able to sleep tonight.

Many of my subordinates have already pointed out that although the Tang army fires artillery every night, it is mainly to tire us out. They will not really attack the city, so we just ignore them.

The city lord directly rejected their remarks and had those who made such remarks tied up and flogged. How do you know what they really think? If such remarks spread throughout the army, no one would be willing to get up at night for a long time. If the Tang army really attacked the city, who would be able to withstand it?

Judging from the current situation, even if all of us arrive at the front-line combat positions, we may not be able to stop the Tang army. If some of us slack off, our failure may come even faster. So even though we know that they are trying to tire us out, we have to jump into this trap.