Deng Ying nodded, “I saw.”
Yang Lun coughed, but unexpectedly this cough triggered his lung injury, making it increasingly severe.
Since falling into the river while drunk in May, he still hadn’t fully recovered. Speaking too much irritated his throat, and now facing Deng Ying, his emotions were poor, his internal organs churning, causing his face to redden. Finally catching his breath, his voice was even harsher than before.
“You should be among them!”
After saying this, he didn’t elaborate further, but swept his sleeves and strode toward the duty room.
Although it wasn’t an official meeting day, because Yang Lun was leading the discussion on the Diaogui fields case, besides several Cabinet ministers, Bai Yu Yang from the Ministry of Justice and two or three officials from the Ministry of Revenue were present.
Deng Ying followed Yang Lun into the duty room. An official named Liang from the Ministry of Revenue, who had once been investigated by the Eastern Depot’s officers for starving his concubine to death, was deeply afraid of the Eastern Depot.
However, he had never met the Eastern Depot’s Director Deng Ying, and when he suddenly heard the eunuchs outside address his title, he instinctively stood up from his seat, “Director Deng, please sit.”
Deng Ying was in the middle of bowing to Bai Huan and seemed somewhat startled at this. Turning to see an official he barely recognized, he said nothing but bowed to him, as if he hadn’t heard, covering up the earlier words that had damaged his and the Cabinet’s dignity. He straightened up and stood by the door.
“My lords, please proceed with your discussion. This servant will wait to record the decisions.”
Zhang Cong and others were already accustomed to Deng Ying’s humility. They moistened their throats with tea, exchanged pleasantries, and then directly entered into political matters.
“Has Lord Yang inquired about Consort Ning’s illness?”
Yang Lun replied: “Not yet.”
Zhang Cong sighed: “We really should submit a memorial to inquire.”
“Lord Zhang, please speak directly.”
Zhang Cong smiled and waved his hand, “How could I have any hidden meaning? I’m just concerned about the Consort’s health and my student.”
Cabinet discussions don’t speak of private matters. The conversation stopped there, and Zhang Cong took a sip of tea. When he spoke again, he had changed the subject.
“Actually, in my opinion, Fu Bainian can be charged with a serious crime, especially since Prince Song is no longer speaking up much, but as for Li Chao… we need to consider further. Duke Jing has passed away, and if Li Chao is also severely punished, Princess Fuqing’s entire line would be extinguished. This doesn’t seem right.”
Bai Huan straightened up from where he was leaning against the desk, “Now it’s not about punishment. These people all have marriage ties with the royal clan – if they’re to be pardoned, His Majesty’s word alone would suffice. What the Ministry of Justice needs to do now is make them return all the fields.”
Bai Yu Yang said: “The Ministry of Justice has ways to make them return them. Take this Fu Bainian – yesterday, without even using torture, he was already scared witless. But he does have some objections. There are many school fields in the Jiangzhe area, and private farming of school fields is common. He mentioned a… some academy in Hangzhou, I can’t remember at the moment, I’ll have to check the case files.”
Yang Lun said: “School fields are different from common fields. They were originally allocated by the court to support provincial education. The academies rely on these fields for their livelihood, and most have no idle fields. If any Diaogui fields are discovered, they should be included in the Ministry of Revenue’s overall accounting and cannot be immediately distributed to counties for farming. When I returned, all the academies were preparing for this year’s autumn imperial examinations. The harvest is already poor, and the students are already anxious. I don’t support touching the school fields.”
After speaking, he glanced at Deng Ying, but Deng Ying kept his head lowered and didn’t look at him.
Bai Yu Yang objected: “Vice Minister Yang, this wasn’t what you wrote in your original ‘Field Clearing Strategy.'”
Yang Lun didn’t hesitate and directly countered: “You’ve never been south – do you know what the situation is like there? We both come from scholarly backgrounds, don’t we understand what the imperial examinations mean to those students? Seizing school fields at this time – isn’t that the same as closing the academies?”
Bai Yu Yang immediately stood up, “What do you mean? The Ministry of Justice has investigated to this point – are we not allowed to question your Ministry of Revenue?”
Yang Lun also stood up, “You can question, but our Ministry of Revenue must consider both civil administration and education across all six ministries. We can’t just hand everything over because you’re single-mindedly investigating. We’ve served together for so many years – these words might be harsh, but I dare to say them.”
“You…”
“Yu Yang.”
Bai Huan stopped Bai Yu Yang and gestured to Yang Lun to calm down: “Sit down, sit down. I understand what you’re saying, and there’s reason to it.”
Hearing his father speak thus, Bai Yu Yang said no more.
Bai Huan waved his hand: “Alright, we’ve discussed the Hangzhou school fields matter enough. Deng, take notes.”
“This servant is here.”
“Start the memorial, we’ll proceed with the voting.”
“Yes.”
After the Chen hour had passed, a basin of coal in the duty room had burned out.
Deng Ying personally collected the voted memorial, folded it properly, and handed it to the Junior Supervisor to take back to the Ceremonial Court. He straightened his official robes and was about to head to the Eastern Depot.
“You stay where you are.”
Deng Ying turned around; Yang Lun had already stepped behind him.
Deng Ying glanced behind him, “This is not the place to talk. Let’s go to the Depot.”
Yang Lun shouted: “Don’t be presumptuous! Why should I go to that place?”
Deng Ying turned around, “Then do you want to interrogate me here? Yang Zixi…”
“Silence!”
“Yes…”
Deng Ying bowed deeply: “If you don’t want to go to the Eastern Depot, then let’s go to my quarters. I dare not ask for anything else, but I beg my lord not to rebuke me in public. Leave this servant some dignity.”