Lü Kai 呂凱

Lü Kai, courtesy name Jiping, was a native of Buwei in Yongchang Commandery. In the commandery he served as Officer of the Five Bureaus and as Officer of Merit. Records, Shu 13 §20

The Biography of the Later Sovereign, in recording the rebellion of Zhu Bao, Administrator of Zangke, in the 1st year of Jianxing (223), records that before this Yong Kai, a powerful clan leader of Yizhou Commandery, had rebelled, sent the Administrator Zhang Yi off to Wu, and held the commandery without submitting. When Yong Kai and the others heard that Liu Bei had died at Yong'an, they grew even more arrogant and cunning. The Protector-General Li Yan wrote him a letter of six sheets explaining where his advantage and harm lay, but Yong Kai answered with a single sheet, saying that he had heard there were not two suns in the sky nor two kings on earth, yet now there were three calendars, so that people in distant places did not know to whom they should turn. Records, Shu 3 §4Records, Shu 13 §20

Yong Kai also surrendered to Wu, and Wu, from afar, appointed him Administrator of Yongchang. Yongchang lay west of Yizhou Commandery, its roads were blocked and it was cut off from Shu, and the commandery's administrator had also been replaced. Lü Kai, together with the Assistant of the Commandery Wang Kang, a native of Shu Commandery, led and urged on the officials and people, closed the borders and held off Yong Kai. Yong Kai repeatedly sent proclamations to Yongchang. The biography of Shi Xie records that Shi Xie induced Yong Kai and others to lead the people of the commandery to attach themselves from afar to the east, and that Sun Quan esteemed him all the more for it. Records, Shu 13 §21Records, Wu 4 §44

In his reply to the proclamation, Lü Kai said that he had supposed that the general, whose family had for generations received the favor of Han, would take the lead in repaying the state, so how could he submit as a subject to Wu and Yue, turning his back on the root to pursue the branches? Just as Shun died at Cangwu, the late emperor's passing by the riverside was no cause for grief, and though King Wen and King Wu received the Mandate, it was only under King Cheng that the realm was pacified. He also likened Yong Kai's position to a wildfire on the plain and to walking on river ice, asking what he would rely on once the fire went out and the ice melted. Records, Shu 13 §22–23

He then cited how Yong Kai's ancestor Marquis Yong had been enfeoffed despite having earned resentment, and how Dou Rong, recognizing which side would rise, had turned to Shizu, and urged him to change his heart, since Chancellor Zhuge, having received the testamentary charge, was assisting the young sovereign, recording merits and forgetting faults. He said that since a subject has no dealings across the border he had not replied until now, but having received letters again and again he was so indignant that he forgot to eat, and so he set out what he had in mind. Chen Shou wrote that because Lü Kai's authority and kindness were clearly felt within and he had the trust of the commandery, he was able to keep his integrity intact. Records, Shu 13 §24–26

When the Chancellor Zhuge Liang set out south to attack Yong Kai and was already on the road, Yong Kai had already been killed by Gao Ding's followers. The Biography of the Later Sovereign records that in the 3rd month, in spring, of the 3rd year of Jianxing (225) Zhuge Liang campaigned against the four southern commanderies and pacified them all, and that Yunnan Commandery was established by dividing Jianning and Yongchang commanderies. Records, Shu 13 §27Records, Shu 3 §6

Arriving in the south, Zhuge Liang submitted a memorial saying that Lü Kai, an officer of Yongchang Commandery, and the Assistant of the Commandery Wang Kang and others had kept their loyalty in a remote land for more than ten years, and that though Yong Kai and Gao Ding pressed them from the northeast, they held to righteousness and had no dealings with them; he had not expected the customs of Yongchang to be so honest and upright. Lü Kai was made Administrator of Yunnan and enfeoffed as Marquis of Yangqian Village, but he happened to be killed by rebellious tribesmen, and his son Lü Xiang succeeded him. Wang Kang was also enfeoffed as a village marquis and became Administrator of Yongchang. The Records do not give the year of Lü Kai's death. Records, Shu 13 §27

In his assessment Chen Shou named Lü Kai together with Huang Quan, Li Hui, Ma Zhong, Wang Ping and Zhang Ni, saying that 'he held to his integrity and did not bend,' and that all of them made their names and rose to achievement through their particular strengths because they met their times. Records, Shu 13 §65