Gao Lishi
Meanwhile, it was said that the senior chancellor Zhang Yue despised Yuwen, but also did not view him as a threat, despite warnings from his subordinate Zhang Jiuling. In 726, Yuwen, along with Li Linfu and another official who resented Zhang Yue, Cui Yinfu (崔隱甫), submitted accusations of corruption against Zhang Yue. Subsequently, Zhang was removed from his chancellor position, but at the intercession of the powerful eunuch Gao Lishi, avoided further punishment. Fearing that Zhang Yue would eventually return to the chancellor position, Yuwen and Cui formed a faction with other officials, against Zhang Yue and his faction. In 727, Emperor Xuanzong, tired of that situation, ordered Zhang Yue to retire, Cui to return home to serve his mother, and demoted Yuwen to be the prefect of Wei Prefecture (魏州, in modern Handan, Hebei). In 728, Emperor Xuanzong gave Yuwen the additional posts as the examiner of Hebei Circuit (河北道, roughly modern Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin) as well as deputy minister of census. Later that year, he made Yuwen the prefect of Bian Prefecture (汴州, roughly modern Kaifeng, Henan), and gave Yuwen the additional responsibility of managing the Yellow River levees. Yuwen proposed that the ancient routes of the Yellow River—when the lower Yellow River divided into nine river routes—be located, and that the routes be used for irrigation of rice fields; further, he also proposed that the routes could then be used for transportation. Emperor Xuanzong approved of the plan, which however did not have much progress despite expenses.