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Yu Qingze
Early Sui minister who made the Turkic khagan Ishbara bow to an imperial edict and was executed in 598 on a false charge laid by his own brother-in-law
In a council hall, a long table holds an unrolled map scroll, a brass-cornered chest and a brush pot, with tall-backed chairs around it and a bronze lamp at the left; a figure stands with their back turned on the balcony at the right, with palace roofs beyond.
Yu Qingze came from Yueyang near the capital; his family, originally surnamed Yu with a different character, had served the Xia state of the Helian clan and settled at Lingwu. Eight chi tall and bold, he spoke the Xianbei language and could ride and shoot to either side in heavy armour, and under the Northern Zhou he governed Shizhou and kept the Jihu people quiet. When Yang Jian founded the Sui he became head of the secretariat, minister of personnel and governor of the capital, and as envoy to the Turks he made the khagan Ishbara kneel to receive the imperial edict and declare himself a vassal; he later became vice director of the Department of State Affairs. In 597 he put down Li Xian's revolt in the far south as commander of the Guizhou expedition. His wife's brother Zhao Shizhu, who was having an affair with his concubine, then accused him of studying the mountain passes at Lingui for a rebellion, and he was executed in January 598.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–598 CE