Lu Xiufu

Also known as Zi Junshi

Lu Xiufu, courtesy name Junshi, came from Yancheng in Chuzhou, passed the metropolitan examination in 1260 and served for years on Li Tingzhi's staff in Huainan. After Lin'an surrendered to the Yuan in 1276, he joined Chen Yizhong and Zhang Shijie in Fuzhou to enthrone the boy Zhao Shi, and became an assistant commissioner of military affairs. When Zhao Shi died at Gangzhou in 1278 and others wanted to disperse, Lu had his brother Zhao Bing crowned under the reign title Xiangxing and, as left chief minister, took the court to Yashan. The Song History (Song shi) says that even at sea he wrote out the Great Learning each day to teach the child. When the fleet was routed at Yashan in 1279, he drove his wife and children into the sea and then leapt in with Zhao Bing on his back. Later writers counted him, with Wen Tianxiang and Zhang Shijie, among the three heroes of the Song's end.