His predecessors in the post had all approached Zhi Du, the governor of Jinan, as though they were mere county officials owing to their fear of him, but Ning Cheng considered him an equal and sought to outdo him.
Years later, after Zhi Du's death, Emperor Jing appointed Ning Cheng as a military commander in Changan in order to stymie the large number of crimes committed by imperial relatives.
",[2] Ning Cheng borrowed money and bought over 1,000 qing (equivalent to about 600 million square feet) of farmland on which he employed several thousand poor families to work.
By the time a general amnesty was declared years later, he had amassed several thousand pieces of gold and exerted more power over the populace than the governor of the region did.
Later, Emperor Wu took him out of retirement and made him chief commandant of Hangu Pass after Gongsun Hong's protests that he was like a "wolf driving a flock of sheep"[3] had prevented Ning Cheng from becoming a provincial governor.