| NAME | |
|---|---|
| Chinese Name | 陆贾, 陸賈, Lù Jiǎ |
| Nickname | Author of Xinyu; Western Han envoy to Nanyue |
| Other name | Lục Gia |
| INFORMATION | |
| Birth Place | Unknown |
| Death Reason | Died in the early Western Han, centuries before Red Cliffs |
| CAREER | |
| Allegiance | Western Han (Gaozu / Wen) — cited only in Romance Chapter 45 |
| Battles | Not a Three Kingdoms combatant. Diplomatic missions to Nanyue. Novel: named in Zhou Yu's loyalty speech, Chapter 45. |
Biography & Historical Record
Lu Jia (陆贾, Lục Gia) is a Western Han rhetorician and diplomat, not a late-Han officer. Born in Chu, he served Liu Bang (刘邦, Lưu Bang) from the anti-Qin wars, argued that an empire won on horseback must be kept with the Odes and Documents, and wrote the twelve-chapter Xinyu (新语, Tân Ngữ) that Emperor Gaozu praised. He twice went as envoy to Zhao Tuo (赵佗, Triệu Đà) of Nanyue and talked the independent king back to a Han seal. Under Empress Lü he moved among the senior marquises to protect the Liu house; after her death he helped Chen Ping and Zhou Bo restore Emperor Wen’s road. He belongs in Shiji 97 and Han shu 43 — four centuries before Red Cliffs. Officer catalogs that dump him into a Three Kingdoms roster as if he served Zhou Yu have the wrong era. What the novel does is quote him.
In Chapter 45, at the Group of Heroes banquet, Zhou Yu (周瑜, Chu Du), courtesy Gongjin (公瑾, Công Cẩn), grips the hand of classmate-spy Jiang Gan (蒋干, Tưởng Cán) and says that a true man who has found his lord will not be moved even if Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Lu Jia, and Li Yiji (郦食其, Lịch Thực Kỳ) returned with rivers of eloquence. Then he names the feast 群英会, dances a sword song, and stages the fake Cai Mao–Zhang Yun letter Jiang Gan will steal. Lu Jia is a classical yardstick for a tongue that once talked kings around — the opposite of a Wu colonel at Sanjiangkou. Li Yiji is the same Early Han pair; if a stub exists for him on another page, treat it as the same Western Han problem, not a Red Cliffs staff officer.
Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Chapter 45 (Cao Cao Loses Troops at Sanjiangkou; Jiang Gan Is Tricked at the Group of Heroes): After the first water fight, Jiang Gan crosses to talk Zhou Yu (周瑜, Chu Du) over. Zhou Yu parades the Jiangdong staff, drinks him down, and delivers the loyalty speech: even Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Lu Jia (陆贾, Lục Gia), and Li Yiji coming back from the grave could not shift a man who shares fortune and ruin with his lord. Jiang Gan goes pale. The chapter then moves to the shared couch and the planted letter that will kill Cai Mao and Zhang Yun for Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo). Lu Jia never boards a Wu ship; he is the dead standard Zhou Yu waves at a living spy.
Lu Jia (陆贾) — Historical & Literary Timeline
Western Han career
Serves Liu Bang; writes Xinyu; first Nanyue embassy to Zhao Tuo.
Protects the Liu house
Brokers among marquises; after Lü, helps restore a Liu emperor. Shiji 97 / Han shu 43.
Named, not present
Zhou Yu lists him with Su Qin, Zhang Yi, and Li Yiji as orators who still could not move a sworn servant. Wrong-person if read as a TK officer.
Full life: Lu Jia (Western Han).
Key Relationships
Family
- Western Han household unconnected to any Three Kingdoms Lu or Liu line on this site. No ROTK spouse or child.
Friends
- Historical patrons Liu Bang (刘邦, Lưu Bang), Chen Ping (陈平, Trần Bình), Zhou Bo (周勃, Chu Bột) — Early Han, plain text.
- In the novel’s mouth only: Zhou Yu (周瑜, Chu Du), who cites him as a model tongue that would still fail.
Enemies
- No Three Kingdoms enemy. Historical counterpart on the first embassy was Zhao Tuo (赵佗, Triệu Đà) of Nanyue, whom he persuaded rather than fought.
Other
- Jiang Gan (蒋干, Tưởng Cán): the spy who has to sit through the speech that uses Lu Jia’s name.
- Su Qin (苏秦, Tô Tần), Zhang Yi (张仪, Trương Nghi) — /zhang-yi/ is this Warring States man, not Shu’s 张翼 — and Li Yiji (郦食其, Lịch Thực Kỳ): the other dead orators in the same sentence.
- Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo): the lord Jiang Gan failed to win Zhou Yu for, immediately after the citation.
In Novel
Chapter 45
- Lu Jia (陆贾, Lục Gia) is not in Zhou Yu (周瑜, Chu Du)'s camp. At the Group of Heroes banquet Zhou Yu tells Jiang Gan (蒋干, Tưởng Cán) that even if Su Qin, Zhang Yi, Lu Jia, and Li Yiji (郦食其, Lịch Thực Kỳ) returned with hanging-river mouths, they could not move a man bound to his lord. The line proves Jiangdong loyalty; it does not enlist a Western Han diplomat on a Wu payroll.
In History
Summary
- Lu Jia (陆贾, Lục Gia) of Chu: Gaozu's rhetorician, author of Xinyu, twice envoy to Nanyue, broker in the Lü crisis. Died in the early Western Han. He is not a Red Cliffs contemporary.
Year: c. 196 BC
- First successful embassy to Zhao Tuo; Han seal restored in Nanyue.
Historical Record
- Shiji 97 (郦生陆贾列传); Han shu 43. Romance Ch.45 is an allusion, not a cameo. Catalogs that treat him as a TK person are wrong-era imports.
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