Before his eyes was a courtyard of a government office.
This was the government office that the court had initially set up for the "opening of the market."
It was once bustling and grand. But now it was desolate and rundown, the whole yard silent and all the doors locked, with the rebel army stationed outside day and night.
Feng Ju and a group of government office officials were confined and imprisoned here.
Short of coal and food, this winter was unbearably harsh, with the little food delivered each day barely enough to keep them from starving, leaving them with no strength to escape.
Feng Ju stepped toward the main hall of the government office, pushed open the door, and saw a fire burning inside, the wood used for the fire being the dismantled signboard of the government office.
A group of about ten people, disheveled like beggars, huddled around the fire.
