Yu Bing (Eastern Jin)

In 327, tension between Bing's brother, Yu Liang and the general Su Jun was reaching its climax. Yu Liang made Bing his Interior Minister of Wu to prepare against Su Jun. After war broke out, Yu Liang was driven out of the capital by Su Jun's forces. Su then focused on taking Wu Commandery. Yu Bing was retreated and fled to Kuaiji while Su Jun placed a bounty on his head. An attendant soldier of his offered him an escape through his boat, covering him under bamboo mats. They would chant and sing as they sailed along, and whenever they reached a checkpoint, they acted wildly, shouting, "Who's looking for Yu Bing? I got him right here!". The guards believed their ruse and let them pass by, and Yu Bing eventually reached Kuaiji.[2]

Although the Prime Minister, Wang Dao was in the capital, he secretly sent envoys to officials to rise up against Su Jun, one of the being Yu Bing. Through Wang Shu, Yu Bing became acting General Who Asserts Valor and was ordered to lead troops to Zhejiang. Meanwhile, Cai Mo, a minister appointed by Su Jun to replace Yu Bing, fled to Bing and serve him, even surrendering his office of Interior Minister of Wu. Together with his brother Yu Tan, they fought against Zhang Jian and later during the final push against the rebels at Shitou, Yu Bing sent Sima Tenghan (司馬滕含) to assist. After the rebellion dissipated in 329, Yu Bing was offered Marquis of Xinwu but Yu Bing rejected it. Instead, he became General Who Spread Might and Interior Minister of Kuaiji.[3]

After Wang Dao died in 339, Yu Bing was made Chief of the Palace Secretariat, Inspector of Yangzhou, and advisor of affairs of the Masters of Writing to act as he replacement together with He Chong. Bing was dedicated to his offices. He respected the old ministers and recruited talented newcomers into the administration, so he was known by many as virtuous. However, unlike Wang Dao, he was more stricter on the officials, which attracted some criticism from people such as Yin Rong (殷融) and Fan Wang (范汪). During this time, he discovered that tens of thousands of people had not been registered into the military, so he fixed this and increased the military's numbers. After a while, Yu Bing became overly-lenient but many were not used to the shift, so they often time refused to listen to him and obey his law.[4] Yu Liang died in 340 and his positions were succeeded by his younger brother Yu Yi. Together with Yi, Bing filled in his brother's role and continued his family's influence on the court.

In 341, the Inspector of Yan, Murong Huang demanded the court that he be bestowed with the titles Grand General and Prince of Yan after he repelled Later Zhao in 340. There was great debate surrounding this, as while Huang was one of the last of Jin's loyalists in the north, to grant him his demands would be inappropriate, as Huang was not a part of the imperial family and there were concerns of him rebelling. The debate went on for a year. Meanwhile, Huang sent a memorial to the court accusing the Yu brothers of monopolizing the court and that they should be removed. He also wrote a personal letter to Yu Bing faulting him of inefficiently running the state despite his high positions. Bing was afraid that if Huang rebels, the court will blame him for causing it. Bing and He Chong sent a joint memorial in support of Huang, and Huang eventually got his titles.[5]

Emperor Cheng of Jin grew ill in 342. False edicts were published, forbidding any ministers from entering the palace. However, Yu Bing suspected something was amiss and upon further investigation, the edicts were proven to be not from the emperor himself. The emperor's children, Sima Pi and Sima Yi were both still young and not fit to rule. For the Yu family, the ascension of any one of his sons would diminish their influence in the imperial family, as the emperor was also their nephew through their sister Yu Wenjun. Thus, they proposed that another nephew of theirs, Sima Yue, be made to succeed his brother to the throne. This was met with remonstration from He Chong, who believed that the emperor's son should succeed but Yu Bing ignored his concerns.[6]

Yu Bing were among the few to receive Emperor Cheng's final testament. After his death, Sima Yue ascended the throne and became Emperor Kang. During the new emperor's mourning session, Bing and He Chong took care of government affairs. In 343, Yu Bing supported Yu Yi's decision to launch a joint attack with Former Liang and Murong Huang against Later Zhao, although he was in the minority that advocated this. Bing later requested to be move to a border command, so the court place him in command Jingzhou, Jiangzhou, Ningzhou, Yizhou, Lianzhou, Jiaozhou, Guangzhou and four commandaries of Yuzhou. He was sent to Wuchang where he was expected to help Yu Yi.[7]

In 344, Emperor Kang was deathly ill. In similar fashion, the emperor's eldest son, Sima Dan, was only a child. Yu Bing and Yu Yi were once again pushing for a brother to succeed him, this time being Sima Yu. However, He Chong managed to successfully convince the emperor to go with Sima Dan, much to the disgust of the Yu brothers. Sima Dan ascended the throne as Emperor Mu of Jin with Empress Dowager Chu acting on his behalf. The Yu clan's tie to the emperor was thus severed.[8]

Not long after, Yu Bing would also fall deeply sick. Empress Dowager Chu tried to summon him to help her in the government but Bing would not respond. He eventually succumbed and died on December 29th of 344. He was posthumously named Zhongchang and posthumously appointed Palace Attendant and Minister of Works.[9]