Yu Ningji

Yu Ningji (庾凝績) was an official of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Former Shu, serving as the director of palace communications (Shumishi) during the late reign of its founder Wang Jian (Emperor Gaozu), and continuing to be powerful early in the reign of Former Shu's next and last emperor Wang Zongyan.

Background Little is known about Yu Ningji's family background, other than that he was a younger second-cousin of the more well-known Former Shu official Yu Chuansu, who served as a chancellor during the reigns of both of Former Shu's emperors, Wang Jian and Wang Zongyan.

During Wang Jian's reign At one point during Wang Jian's reign, Yu Ningji became an imperial scholar (翰林學士, Hanlin Xueshi).

During Wang Yan's reign However, whether Yu Ningji remained as director of palace communications or not, he remained in charge of matters of justice, for it was apparently he who oversaw the subsequent demotion and punishment of the chancellor Zhang Ge, a major political ally of Tang Wenyi's, after Tang was executed shortly after Wang Yan took the throne. It was Yu who proposed to exile Zhang to Heshui Base (合水鎮, in modern Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan). He further ordered Gu Chengyan (顧承郾), the prefect of Mao Prefecture (茂州), which Heshui belonged to, to spy on Zhang, hoping further chances to accuse Zhang. After Gu declined to do so (after being warned by the wife of the general Wang Zongkan (王宗侃), who was also an adoptive son of Wang Jian's, that doing so exposed Gu himself to reprisals later as well), Yu found an excuse to punish Gu. That was the last historical reference to Yu, and it was not known when he died.

Notes and references

Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms (十國春秋), vol. 41. Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 270.