Lu Yu 盧毓

Lu Yu, courtesy name Zijia, was a man of Zhuo County in Zhuo Commandery. His father Lu Zhi was renowned in his time. Lu Yu lost his father at the age of ten, and when disorder broke out in his home province his two elder brothers died in the turmoil. When Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan were fighting each other and famine struck You and Ji provinces, Lu Yu supported his widowed sister-in-law and his brother's orphaned son, and was praised for his learning and conduct. Records, Wei 22 §90

When Emperor Wen, Cao Pi, was General of the Household of the Five Offices, he summoned Lu Yu and made him Bandit Section Clerk (menxia zeicao), and Cui Yan recommended him as Registrar of Ji Province. According to the Biography of Cui Yan, of Sun Li and Lu Yu of Zhuo Commandery, who had just entered the military headquarters, Cui Yan said that Lu Yu was 'pure, keen and clear in principle, and would not wear away though refined a hundred times,' calling both of them material for the Three Excellencies; later Cui Lin, Sun Li and Lu Yu all rose to the highest ministerial posts. Records, Wei 22 §91Records, Wei 12 §16–17

At that time the realm was just being founded and many people fled, so the law on soldiers' desertion was made severe and the guilt extended to wives and children. The wives of deserting soldiers, such as Lady Bai, had been married only a few days and had not yet even met their husbands, but the Grand Judge memorialized that they be executed in the marketplace. Lu Yu rebutted this by citing the Book of Songs and the Book of Rites, arguing that a woman's affection arises only after she has met her husband and her duty becomes weighty only once she has become a wife, and, citing the saying of the Book of Documents, 'Rather than kill the innocent, it is better to fail to follow the law,' he argued that punishing them was acceptable but killing them was far too severe. Records, Wei 22 §91–93

Taizu (Cao Cao) said, 'Lu Yu's position is right. Moreover, his citing of the classics has meaning and makes me sigh.' As a result Lu Yu became Legal Section Counsellor-Clerk to the Chancellor and was transferred to Western Section Counsellor-Clerk. When the state of Wei was established, he became Gentleman of Personnel. Records, Wei 22 §94–95

When Emperor Wen ascended the throne, he was transferred to Gentleman of the Yellow Gate, and went out to serve as Chancellor of Jiyin and Administrator of the two commanderies of Liang and Qiao. Because Qiao was his old home, the emperor moved large numbers of people there to form military agricultural colonies, but the land was barren and the people were impoverished. When Lu Yu submitted a memorial proposing to move the people to the fertile plains of the state of Liang, the emperor granted it but resented him inwardly and demoted him, making him Agricultural Colonel of Suiyang in charge of the people being moved. Lu Yu inspected the land in person and chose good fields for them to settle, and the people relied on him. He was transferred to Administrator of Anping and of Guangping, and wherever he went his benevolent influence was felt. Records, Wei 22 §95–96

In the 2nd year of Qinglong (234) he entered the court as Palace Attendant. The Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary Liu Shao was in the course of drawing up the statutes, and Lu Yu submitted a discussion of the intent of the laws of past and present, arguing that the law should be fixed as one and should not have two strands that would let corrupt officials insert their private wishes. When the Palace Attendant Gaotang Long repeatedly remonstrated over palace construction and Emperor Ming was displeased, Lu Yu advised him to be tolerant, since Gaotang Long was a scholar known for his wild forthrightness. In his three years as Palace Attendant he rebutted and disputed many matters, and Emperor Ming, saying that his nature was upright and firm and his mind impartial, made him Master of Writing for Personnel. Records, Wei 22 §97–98

When Emperor Ming had him choose his own successor, Lu Yu recommended the Attendant-in-Ordinary Zheng Chong, but Emperor Ming told him to recommend someone he had not heard of, so he recommended Ruan Wu and Sun Yong, and Sun Yong was appointed. Earlier, Zhuge Dan, Deng Yang and others had chased after reputation and been mocked for it, and Emperor Ming detested this; when Gentlemen of the Secretariat were to be selected, Emperor Ming issued an edict saying that a reputation was like a cake drawn on the ground—it could not be eaten. Lu Yu replied that reputation could not bring in extraordinary men but could secure ordinary men of use; the trouble was only that the method of examining merit had been abolished and men were promoted and demoted by slander and praise, so that the true and the false were mixed together. Records, Wei 22 §99–101

Emperor Ming accepted his words and had an evaluation law drawn up. When the post of Minister over the Masses fell vacant, Lu Yu recommended the recluse scholar Guan Ning, but the emperor could not employ him; when asked for the next candidates, he named Han Ji, Cui Lin and Chang Lin, and Emperor Ming appointed Han Ji. In assessing and selecting men, Lu Yu put character and conduct first and only then spoke of ability. When Li Feng asked him why, Lu Yu said that ability is the means of doing good, so if a man is said to have ability yet cannot do good, his ability does not fit the vessel; Li Feng and the others were won over by his words. Records, Wei 22 §102–103

When Cao Fang, Prince of Qi, took the throne, Lu Yu was granted the rank of Marquis Within the Passes. Cao Shuang, holding power and seeking to plant his own faction, moved Lu Yu to Deputy Director of the Imperial Secretariat (puye) and replaced him with the Palace Attendant He Yan, and soon afterward sent him out as Commandant of Justice. The Biography of Cao Shuang records that He Yan and others, who had long been on bad terms with Lu Yu, framed charges against him using a minor fault of one of his clerks, while the Biography of Lu Yu records that he was dismissed after the Colonel-Director of Retainers Bi Gui unjustly impeached him. As public opinion largely spoke in his defense, he was made Superintendent of the Imperial Household (guanglu xun). Records, Wei 22 §104Records, Wei 9 §77

When Cao Shuang and the others were arrested, the Grand Tutor Sima Yi (Prince Xuan) had Lu Yu act as Colonel-Director of Retainers and handle their case. He again became Master of Writing for Personnel and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Gaole Village, and was transferred to Deputy Director of the Imperial Secretariat, in charge of selecting officials as before. When the Duke of Gaogui Village, Cao Mao, took the throne, his fief was raised to Marquis of Daliang District. When Guanqiu Jian rebelled and the General-in-Chief Sima Shi (Prince Jing) took the field, Lu Yu took charge of affairs left behind and was given the additional post of Palace Attendant. Records, Wei 22 §104–105

In the 3rd year of Zhengyuan (256) he fell ill and resigned his post. When he was transferred to Minister of Works, he insistently yielded the post to Wang Chang, Wang Guan and Wang Xiang, but an edict sent an envoy to confer the seal and ribbon on him on the spot, raised his rank to Marquis of Rongcheng and gave him a fief of 2,300 households. The Annals of the Three Young Emperors record that in the 10th month, in winter, of the 1st year of Ganlu (256) Lu Yu was made Minister of Works. He died in the 3rd month of the 2nd year of Ganlu (257) and was given the posthumous name Marquis Cheng, and his grandson Lu Fan succeeded him. The Biography of Sun Li records that Sun Li and Lu Yu, men of the same commandery and the same generation, were on bad terms, but that their reputations and ranks were roughly equal. Records, Wei 22 §105Records, Wei 4 §60 · 77–78Records, Wei 24 §72

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that in the Wei period the affairs of government were concentrated in the Imperial Secretariat and the Masters of Writing held the duties of the Six Ministers of old, and that Chen Jiao, Xu Xuan, Wei Zhen and Lu Yu held these posts for a long time, Wei Zhen and Lu Yu governing cleanly with principle and discernment, so that none of them disgraced his office. Records, Wei 22 §108