Lu Kai (198 – December 269 or January 270),[a] courtesy name Jingfeng, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
During the reign of Sun Liang, he participated in some battles against bandits and Eastern Wu's rival state Cao Wei, and was promoted to the rank of General.
[2] Lu Kai started his career around the time Sun Quan established the independent state of Eastern Wu in 222 near the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period.
[4] During the Chiwu era (238–251) of Sun Quan's reign, Lu Kai was appointed as the Administrator (太守) of Dan'er Commandery (儋耳郡; around present-day Danzhou, Hainan).
He was then promoted to Lieutenant-General (偏將軍) and appointed as the Area Commander of Baqiu (巴丘; present-day Yueyang, Hunan), in addition to being enfeoffed as a Marquis of a Chief District (都鄉侯).
[6] During Sun Liang's reign, Lu Kai participated in a military campaign against Wu's rival state, Wei, at Shouchun (壽春; present-day Shou County, Anhui).
[11] Around this time, Lu Kai wrote a memorial to Sun Hao to dissuade him from relocating the imperial capital, and to advise him to rule with benevolence.
When Sun Hao called for an imperial court session to discuss this issue,[12] Lu Kai spoke up: "War is meant to be a last resort.
Now, our powerful enemy has recently conquered Bashu and made solid territorial gains, yet they send an emissary to meet us and offer to make peace with us.
"[13]The Wu general Liu Zuan (劉纂) urged Sun Hao to seize this opportunity to launch an attack, and suggested that they send spies to assess the situation in Yiyang Commandery first.
[14] Although Sun Hao wanted to heed Liu Zuan's suggestion, he eventually dropped the idea after considering the recent fall of Wu's ally state Shu in 263.
At the time, Sun Hao had an attendant, He Ding (何定), who was notorious for fawning on the emperor, speaking ill of officials behind their backs, and giving unfair preferential treatment to those who were close to him.
Lu Kai then secretly instructed an official to recommend Ding Feng to lead the 3,000 imperial guards escorting Sun Hao to the temple.
[29] During this time, the state historian Hua He wrote a memorial to the emperor Sun Hao as follows: "Lu Yi is physically tough, exceptionally talented, and strong in willpower.
First, Lu Kai held an important office as Left Imperial Chancellor so Sun Hao needed his help to keep the government functioning.
After Lu Kai died, Sun Hao sent his family away to the distant Jian'an Commandery (建安郡; covering parts of present-day Fujian).
Since our neighbouring state wants to establish friendly relations with us and there are no conflicts at the borders, we should do our best to relieve the people's burdens, give them time to rest and recuperate, build up a strong treasury, and wait for an opportunity to arise.
In the past, the Qin dynasty lost the Empire because its rewards were too meagre and its punishments were too harsh, resulting in a huge imbalance in its justice system.
Yet, Liu Shan allowed disorder and absurdity to flourish when he failed to give out rewards and punishments fairly, and occupied himself with extravagance and self-indulgence.
I sincerely hope that Your Majesty will put an end to the wasteful use of resources and reduce unnecessary corvée and labour, and rule with benevolence instead of tyranny.
The governors and generals should continue to defend and guard the Imperial Capital and their respective jurisdictions, while the ministers and secretaries will strive hard to promote good governance and civil culture.
He theorised that Lu Kai most probably wrote the memorial but did not present it to Sun Hao and kept it hidden until he finally decided to show it to Dong Chao (董朝) before his death.
However, he was impressed after reading the memorial, and believed that it could serve as a lesson for future rulers, hence he included it as an addendum at the end of Lu Kai's biography.
Lu Kai replied: "Since Your Majesty took over the reins of power, I noticed that yin and yang are not well-balanced, the five stars are misaligned, officeholders are not faithfully performing their duties, and corrupt officials are collaborating to pursue their own interests.
Your Majesty favours him for trivial reasons, does not care whether he has great ambitions, allows him to occupy a prestigious position only for the virtuous and talented, and lets him enjoy privileges that should be accorded only to senior and long-serving officials.
[47] In the past, Jie and Zhou met their downfalls because of evil women, while the turmoil during You and Li's reigns started with them showing favouritism towards their concubines.
As of now, Your Majesty gives out great rewards to eunuchs like Gao Tong, Zhan Lian and Yang Du, and even puts them in command of active troops.
People who appear talented on the outside but lack substance on the inside get recommended to serve in the government, while those who form factions to pursue their own interests get ahead of others.
The soldiers of today are forced to perform various forms of labour in addition to military service, and the government does not ensure that they are well-compensated and their needs taken care of.
In his later years, although the Previous Emperor set up an intelligence agency with Lü Yi and Qian Qin in charge, he realised his mistake, eliminated them and apologised to the people.