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{{for|the synchronised swimmer|Feng Yu (synchronised swimmer)}}
{{family name hatnote|Feng|lang=Chinese}}
'''Feng Yu''' ({{zh|t=馮玉}}) (died 952/953?), [[courtesy name]] '''Jingchen''' ({{lang|zh|璟臣}}), was a Chinese politician of the [[Later Tang]], [[Later Jin (Five Dynasties)|Later Jin]], and the [[Liao dynasty|Liao]] dynasties of China. He was powerful during the reign of Later Jin's second emperor [[Shi Chonggui]], as Shi's [[Empress Feng (Later Jin)|Empress Feng]] was his sister, and he became both [[chancellor of Tang Dynasty|chancellor]] and chief of staff (''[[Shumishi]]'').  After Shi was defeated and taken captive by Liao's [[Emperor Taizong of Liao|Emperor Taizong]], Feng was taken to Liao as well and died there.
== Family background ==
It is not known when Feng Yu was born.  His family was from Ding Prefecture (定州, in modern [[Baoding]], [[Hebei]]), but it is (based on his father's career) unclear whether he was born there.  His father Feng Meng ({{lang|zh|馮濛}}) was the liaison officer for Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered at Ding) to the [[Later Tang]] court early during the reign of the second Later Tang emperor [[Li Siyuan]].  Feng Meng was described to be intelligent but wicked, and he gained the favor of Li Siyuan's powerful chief of staff [[An Chonghui]], and was eventually promoted to be the deputy defender of Yedu (鄴都, in modern [[Handan]], [[Hebei]]).<ref name=NHFD17>''[[New History of the Five Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:新五代史/卷17|vol. 17]].</ref><ref>An Chonghui became Li Siyuan's chief of staff shortly after Li Siyuan became emperor in 926, and fell from grace in 931, so Feng Meng's commission must have occurred during that period, and Shi Jingtang's commission limited that period further to 926 to 928.  See ''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'', vols. [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷275|275]], [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷277|277]].</ref>  When Li Siyuan's son-in-law [[Shi Jingtang]] later became the defender of Yedu in 928,<ref>''[[Old History of the Five Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:舊五代史/卷75|vol. 75]].</ref> he became friendly with Feng Meng, and decided to take Feng Meng's daughter as the wife for his younger brother Shi Chongyin, whom he had adopted as a son.  Shi Chongyin died early, however, and Lady Feng became widowed.<ref name=NHFD17/>  (The historical sources are not in accord as to whether Feng Yu was older or younger than she was; Feng Yu's biography in the ''[[Old History of the Five Dynasties]]'' described her as a younger sister,<ref name=HFD89>''Old History of the Five Dynasties'', [[:zh:s:舊五代史/卷89|vol. 89]].</ref> as did her biography in the ''[[New History of the Five Dynasties]]'';<ref name=NHFD17/> his biography in the ''New History of the Five Dynasties'', however, described her as an older sister.<ref name=NHFD56>''New History of the Five Dynasties'', [[:zh:s:新五代史/卷56|vol. 56]].</ref>)
== During Later Tang and/or early Later Jin ==
It was said that Feng Yu took the [[imperial examination]]s in the ''Jinshi'' class multiple times, but was unable to pass.  When [[Feng Yun (Later Tang)|Feng Yun]] served as the military governor (''[[Jiedushi]]'') of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern [[Taiyuan]], [[Shanxi]]), he invited Feng Yu to serve as his secretary.<ref name=NHFD56/><ref>Feng Yun apparently became Hedong's military governor in 930 and was shortly after moved to Zhongwu Circuit (忠武, headquartered in modern [[Xuchang]], [[Henan]]) instead, so Feng Yu's service under him must be in that short duration.  See ''New History of the Five Dynasties'', [[:zh:s:新五代史/卷27|vol. 27]].</ref>  Feng Yu later served as an imperial censor with the title of ''Jiancha Yushi'' ({{lang|zh|監察御史}}); he later served as ''Libu Langzhong'' ({{lang|zh|禮部郎中}}), a supervisory official at the ministry of rites (禮部, ''Libu''); and then as an assistant to the director of salt and iron monopolies.<ref name=NHFD56/>  (It is unclear whether Feng Yu's progression of offices would be still during Later Tang, or after Shi Jingtang had overthrown Later Tang and founded [[Later Jin (Five Dynasties)|Later Jin]] as its emperor.)
== During Shi Chonggui's reign as Later Jin emperor ==
In 942, Shi Jingtang died and was succeeded as emperor by his adoptive son (biological nephew) [[Shi Chonggui]].  Shi Chonggui had long been attracted to Feng Yu's sister Lady Feng, and married her shortly after succeeding to the throne.  In 943, he further created her empress.  She soon became heavily involved in his governance.<ref name=ZZTJ283>''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷283|vol. 283]].</ref>  As the empress' brother, Feng Yu's power also rose quickly, as he became ''Zhongshu Sheren'' ({{lang|zh|中書舍人}}) and became in charge of drafting imperial edicts.  However, as he himself lacked the necessary skills to do so, he often had another ''Zhongshu Sheren'', Yin Peng ({{lang|zh|殷鵬}}), draft the edicts for him.  Apparently in short order, he became the military prefect (團練使, ''Tuanlianshi'') of Ying Prefecture (潁州, in modern [[Fuyang]], [[Anhui]]),<ref name=NHFD56/> and then quickly promoted to be imperial scholar at Duanming Hall and deputy minister of census (戶部侍郎, ''Hubu Shilang''), becoming often involved in Shi's policy-decision process.<ref name=ZZTJ283/>
Both Feng Yu and Li Yantao ({{lang|zh|李彥韜}}) became close associates of the emperor, and then resented the power wielded by the emperor's chief of staff (''[[Shumishi]]''), [[Sang Weihan]], who was also [[chancellor of Tang Dynasty|chancellor]].  They therefore often defamed Sang, leading to Shi's wanting to remove Sang from his chancellor position, although Shi was dissuaded from doing so by the chancellors [[Li Song (politician)|Li Song]] and [[Liu Xu]].  When Sang became aware of this, he requested to have Feng be deputy chief of staff — a request that Feng was not happy about.  In response, in spring 945, Shi made Feng chief of staff as well (serving with Sang) and minister of census (戶部尚書, ''Hubu Shangshu''), to divert some of Sang's power.<ref name=ZZTJ284>''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷284|vol. 284]].</ref>  In fall 945, the chancellor [[He Ning]] was removed from his post, and Feng was given the additional designations of chancellor (同中書門下平章事, ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'') and ''Zhongshu Shilang'' ({{lang|zh|中書侍郎}}).  It was said that because he was particularly capable of pleasing the emperor, he became even more powerful, such that on an occasion when he was on leave due to illness, Shi stated to the other chancellors, "For all posts that are at the prefect level or greater, wait until Feng Yu returned to fill them."  Feng used the emperor's trust for personal benefit, such that those who wanted posts all went to his mansion to bribe him, leading to a degradation of the Later Jin governance.  (Yin, as a close associate of Feng's, also took many bribes.)<ref name=ZZTJ285>''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷285|vol. 285]].</ref>
In winter 945, after Feng accused Sang of wanting to use Shi's then-illness to replace him with Shi Jingtang's biological son Shi Chongrui ({{lang|zh|石重睿}}) and Sang's other political enemies Li Yantao and [[Li Shouzhen]] compounding the accusations, Shi Chonggui deposed Sang and made him the mayor of the capital [[Kaifeng]].  (When Feng Yu's associates tried to argue to him that being mayor of the capital, with many minute responsibilities, was an inappropriate post for someone with Sang's accomplishments and that he should be given a military governorship, Feng stated that he was fearful that Sang might rebel.  When they pointed out that Sang was a civilian and could not rebel, Feng stated, "Even if he did not rebel himself, he might encourage someone else to do so," alluding to Sang's having encouraged Shi Jingtang to rebel.)<ref name=ZZTJ285/>
In fall 946, there were rumors that [[Zhao Yanshou]], a major general of Later Jin's northern neighbor [[Liao dynasty|Liao]] — whose [[Emperor Taizong of Liao|Emperor Taizong]] had been instrumental in Shi Jingtang's success in overthrowing Later Tang but with whom Shi Chonggui had engaged in wars — was planning to defect to Later Jin.  Feng and Li Song (who was by this point also chief of staff) believed the rumors, and had Shi Chonggui's uncle-by-marriage [[Du Chongwei|Du Wei]] the military governor of Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered in modern [[Handan]], [[Hebei]]), write to Zhao to further entice him.  At Emperor Taizong's instruction, Zhao wrote back to "confirm" his intention to do so, in order to set a trap for Later Jin forces.  Shi, believing that this was time to launch a major attack against Liao, commissioned Du and Li Shouzhen to command a large army against Liao.  (This was despite chancellor [[Zhao Ying]]'s misgivings, pointing out that Du was always dissatisfied despite his honored position, and suggesting that Li Shouzhen be put in command alone — a suggestion that Feng and Li Song gave no heed.)  However, even before Du and Li Shouzhen reached Liao territory, they were encountered by the Liao army, commanded by Emperor Taizong himself, and were surrounded at Zhongdu Bridge (中度橋, in modern [[Baoding]], [[Hebei]]).  When Emperor Taizong promised to have Du made the emperor of China instead, Du and Li Shouzhen surrendered.  With them accompanying him, Emperor Taizong quickly headed for Kaifeng.  With nearly the entire Later Jin imperial army having been given to Du and Li Shouzhen earlier, Kaifeng was left virtually undefended, and Shi, judging that he could not resist, surrendered, ending Later Jin.<ref name=ZZTJ285/>  When Emperor Taizong sent the former Later Jin general [[Zhang Yanze]] into Kaifeng first to accept the surrender, the soldiers pillaged Feng's mansion and took much of the massive wealth that he had accumulated.<ref name=NHFD56/>  Meanwhile, Feng tried to ingratiate both Zhang and Emperor Taizong, offering to personally surrender the Later Jin imperial seal to Emperor Taizong;<ref name=ZZTJ285/> Zhang declined.<ref name=NHFD56/>
== During Liao ==
[[Emperor Taizong of Liao]] ordered that Shi Chonggui and his entire family be moved to Liao territory.  Among the Later Jin officials ordered to be part of Shi's train were Zhao Ying, Feng Yu, and Li Yantao.<ref name=ZZTJ286>''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷286|vol. 286]].</ref>  After Feng arrived at the Liao court, he was given the honorary title of ''Taizi Taibao'' ({{lang|zh|太子太保}}).  In either 952 (according to the ''Old History of the Five Dynasties'')<ref name=HFD89/> or 953 (according to the ''New History of the Five Dynasties''),<ref name=NHFD56/> by which time the [[Zhongyuan|Central Plains]] was under the rule of [[Later Zhou]], Feng Yu's son Feng Jie ({{lang|zh|馮傑}}) fled from Liao and defected to Later Zhou.  Feng, in fear, died not long after.<ref name=HFD89/><ref name=NHFD56/>
== Notes and references ==
<references/>
* ''[[Old History of the Five Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:舊五代史/卷89|vol. 89]].
* ''[[New History of the Five Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:新五代史/卷56|vol. 56]].
* ''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'', vols. [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷283|283]], [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷284|284]], [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷285|285]], [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷286|286]].
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feng, Yu}}
[[Category:950s deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:Later Tang government officials]]
[[Category:Later Jin (Five Dynasties) chancellors]]
[[Category:Later Jin (Five Dynasties) shumishi]]
[[Category:Liao dynasty government officials]]
[[Category:Political office-holders in Anhui]]