After Duke Xiang's death, Ziye, his son, succeeded him, but he died only three months later due to "excessive grief."
Prince Wu was born to Duke Cheng of Lu and Ding Si (定姒), a concubine, in 575 BC, which was the sixteenth year of his father's reign.
This situation did not change when Duke Xiang, still a child, succeeded to the Lu throne in 572 BC after his father's death in the prior year.
In summer 570 BC, Duke Xiang, then six years old (in East Asian reckoning), visited the Jin court for the first time.
Xun Ying, Viscount Wu of Zhi [zh], a Jin official, commented about this, while Zhongsun Mie, who accompanied Duke Xiang, replied, Because our humble settlement is on the eastern rim and in close proximity to our enemies, it is to you, my lord, that our unworthy ruler must look.
Zhongsun Mie requested that the nearby state of Zeng (鄫; not to be confused with 曾) be "made subordinate to" Lu.
Lu official Zang Wuzhong [zh] led an army to rescue Zeng, but was defeated at Hutai (狐駘).
The Zuo Zhuan notes that the people of the Lu capital mourned the dead by tying their hair with hemp strings, starting a tradition.
It was soon after the Zheng campaign when Duke Xiang, aged twelve, completed his capping ceremony, signifying that he became an adult.
However, by the banks of the Yellow River, Hua Yuan was personally stopped by Minister of the Left Yu Shi (魚石), another member of the Huan lineage, who feared that Hua Yuan might annihilate the entire Huan lineage should he return with an army and believed that he would kill only Dang Ze should he stay.
Yu Shi predicted correctly, but all five ministers of the Huan lineage, including himself, fled to Chu, Hua Yuan's request to stay notwithstanding.
In summer 573 BC, Chu and Zheng attached Song, seizing Pengcheng and sending the five exiled ministers there.
As efforts to retake Pengcheng faltered due to continued Chu reinforcements, Hua Yuan went to Jin for help.
In spring 563 BC, Lu joined a Jin coalition against a small state named Biyang (偪陽; in present-day Zaozhuang, Shandong).
In summer 563 BC, Zheng, trying to gain favor from Chu, attacked Song, Wey, and Lu in quick succession.
In summer 558 BC, Qi, which ceased to be a Jin ally due to a diplomatic dispute in the previous year, besieged the Lu city of Cheng (成).
In the next year, Duke Ping of Jin, his successor, had the rulers of Zhu and Ju arrested for their aggression against Lu and their alignment with Qi and Chu.
A further Qi attack in autumn 556 BC was defeated at the Battle of Pingyin [zh] by a coalition army led by Jin.
He, himself a younger son of his father, sent Zang Jia [zh], his elder brother born to a different mother, a turtle to petition the Lu court to make him the next head of the Zangsun clan.
[2] In 546 BC, Shusun Bao went to Song to represent Lu in the Covenant of Armistice [zh], which stipulated that the tributaries of Jin must also pay tribute to Chu and vice versa.
Duke Xiang was troubled by this humiliation, but Shusun Bao advised that he could conduct a ceremony of exorcising the funeral chamber first, which would make the dressing appear like sending gifts during court visits.