During Emperor Taizong's Reign
In 626, Li Shimin, locked in an intense rivalry with his brother Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince, ambushed Li Jiancheng and another brother who supported Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji the Prince of Qi, at Xuanwu Gate and killed them both. He then effectively forced Emperor Gaozu to first create him crown prince and then yield the throne to him, and he took the throne as Emperor Taizong. It appeared that he did not initially promote Yu Zhining, but in 629, Yu was promoted to the post of deputy head of the legislative bureau of government. On one occasion, when Emperor Taizong invited the high level officials to a feast, he was surprised not to see Yu -- and when he asked, the answer he received was that Yu, who was observant of protocol, decided not to attend because the orders actually only stated that officials of the third rank or above were invited, and his post was not of the third rank, but of the fourth rank, first class. Emperor Taizong thereafter specifically issued an invitation addressed to Yu, and also soon bestowed on him the honorific post of Sanqi Changshi (散騎常侍) -- which was the third rank, second class -- while also making him one of the key staff members for his oldest son Li Chengqian the Crown Prince and creating him the Duke of Liyang.
After Emperor Gaozu's death in 635, Emperor Taizong began building the imperial temples to worship his ancestors (including his father). The chancellor Fang Xuanling suggested that Emperor Gaozu's seventh-generation ancestor, Li Gao (the founder of the Sixteen Kingdoms period state Western Liang) be honored as the main Tang ancestor, but Yu opposed, arguing that Tang's imperial powers did not originate from Li Gao, and therefore Li Gao should not be honored as the main ancestor. Emperor Taizong agreed.
In 639, when Emperor Taizong instituted a feudal scheme where key contributors to Tang rule were given prefectural prefect posts, to be passed to their descendants, Yu was among its key opponents. Eventually, particularly due to fervent opposition by Emperor Taizong's brother-in-law Zhangsun Wuji, the feudal scheme was cancelled.
During the years that Yu served on Li Chengqian's staff, he often made suggestions to Li Chengqian to try to improve Li Chengqian's behavior, and when Emperor Taizong heard about this, he awarded Yu with gold and silk. In 640, he promoted Yu to the post of Li Chengqian's head of household. In 641, when Yu's mother died, Yu resigned to observe a mourning period for her but was soon recalled to the post. When he requested that he be allowed to observe the three-year mourning period, Emperor Taizong sent the official Cen Wenben to persuade him otherwise, stating: "In this case, your faithfulness and filial piety may conflict. My son needs your guidance, and I am asking you to hold back your emotions." Yu therefore returned to his post.
For the next few years, Yu continued to try to correct Li Chengqian's behavior, and several of the submissions he made to Li Chengqian are extant, including his counsel against building palaces during the summer heat, Li Chengqian's liking for music, and his closeness to eunuchs. On one occasion, when Yu wrote a particularly blunt submission on two matters -- Li Chengqian's refusal to allow his staff members to go on vacation, and his reception of the ethnically Tujue man Dageyou (達哥友) into his palace -- Li Chengqian became so incensed that he sent the assassins Zhang Sizheng (張思政) and Gegan Chengji (紇干承基) to assassinate Yu. When Zhang and Gegan went to Yu's house to kill him, however, they saw that Yu was living frugally and continuing to mourn his mother, and they could not bring themselves to kill him.
In 643, Li Chengqian was discovered to have conspired with his uncle Li Yuanchang (李元昌) the Prince of Han, his brothers-in-law Zhao Jie (趙節) and Du He (杜荷), and the general Hou Junji, to overthrow Emperor Taizong (over his fears that Emperor Taizong would replace him with his favored brother Li Tai the Prince of Wei). Emperor Taizong deposed Li Chengqian and replaced him with a younger son, Li Zhi the Prince of Jin. Most of Li Chengqian's staff were blamed for not correcting his behavior and were demoted or exiled, but Yu was praised for having tried to correct Li Chengqian. Emperor Taizong subsequently made him a member of Li Zhi's staff.
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