Lu Mao (died 239),[1] courtesy name Zizhang, was a Chinese politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
He was a younger brother of Lu Xun, a prominent politician and general who served as the third Imperial Chancellor of Eastern Wu.
Some of his friends – Chen Rong (陳融), Puyang Yi, Jiang Zuan (蔣纂) and Yuan Di (袁迪) – were from humble backgrounds but had great ambitions.
When he was serving as a Master of Writing in the Selection Bureau (選曹尚書; i.e., the equivalent of a present-day human resources officer), he often went around spreading news of scandalous incidents involving his colleagues just to show how harsh he could be in criticising others.
[6][b] In 232, Lu Mao was summoned to the Wu imperial court and was appointed as a Consultant (議郎) and Master of Writing in the Selection Bureau.
Lu Mao wrote a memorial to Sun Quan to dissuade him from launching the campaign, in which he explained the perils of travelling far to attack a distant enemy and pointed out some negative consequences that may result from the campaign, such as the Shanyue tribes taking advantage of Sun Quan's absence to cause trouble in the Wu region.
[7] Lu Mao then wrote another memorial to Sun Quan, advising him to refrain from attacking Gongsun Yuan, and focus on maintaining stability in Wu and making long term defence preparations instead.
Sun Quan felt that Lu Mao was very sincere when he wrote the memorial so he abandoned the idea of attacking Gongsun Yuan.
Lu Mao thought that this was inappropriate according to Confucian rules of propriety because he believed the level of the reception should be based on the person's social status.
He served as a Master of Writing in the Selection Bureau (選曹尚書) and later in the Ministry of Personnel during the reign of the last Wu emperor, Sun Hao.