In Xiancuo, Jincheng Town, Jinmen County, Fujian Province, lies a simple folk house of the Ming Dynasty, the former residence of Lu Ruotang, a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty. Lu Ruotang is called "Lu Bodhisattva" by local people because of his upright nature, fearless of losing his official position in impeachment of powerful officials of the imperial court, unfeeling in punishing local heroes, scrupulous in his duties, and touching in his integrity.
Lu Ruotang, with the word "Haiyang", the name "Muzhou", the name "Liu'an", was born in Xiancuo, Jinmen, Tong'an, Fujian in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Lu Ruoteng's studies were personally taught by his grandfather Lu Yigui. Lu Yigui advocates the fundamental way, and only allows Lu Ruoteng to read the classics and history, learn the principles of nature, and study the Qin and Han literature and the works of the Tang and Song dynasties. This has also created Lu Ruoteng's character of "writing is like a person, speaking is like a voice", and being an official is full of national justice. In 1640 (the 13th year of the reign of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty), Lu Ruotangzhong became a Jinshi, who was appointed head of the Ministry of War and promoted to doctor.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court was in turmoil. Lu Ruoteng, together with Huang Daozhou, Shen Fang, Shen Quanqi and other ministers in the imperial court, often encouraged each other with integrity, did not participate in the struggle for power and profit, but took pride in doing practical things by the people, and hated the practice of using power for personal gain and harming the country and the people. At that time, Yang Sichang, who supervised Huguang, had the military power but neglected his duty, indulged in the worship of Buddha and chanted sutras, and wasted a lot of money. Lu Ruotang explained his guilt and finally made the court remove Yang Sichang from his official position.
When Lu Ruoteng was appointed as the military commissioner, he was responsible for the martial arts of Beijing. He impeached Jiang Weilu, the marquis of Dingxi, three times in Shangshu. As a result, he offended the powerful officials and was moved to Zhejiang as the Chief Executive. Later, he was appointed as a patrol officer in Ningbo and Shaoxing. However, he always put the state affairs first and was indomitable. He once again tried to impeach his inner courtier Tian Guoxing for taking advantage of his power, taking cargo ships, abusing civilian power, humiliating officials of the prefecture and county, blocking the traffic at the gate, and finally made Tian Guoxing punished. In Zhejiang, Lu Ruoteng restrained himself and loved the people, promoted the advantages and eliminated the disadvantages, eradicated the power, and put down Hu Chenglong and other bandits. The people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and called him "Lu Bodhisattva".
After the Qing soldiers entered the Shanhaiguan Pass, Lu Ruotang fought against the Qing Dynasty with all his strength. In the first year of Longwu (1645), he was appointed governor of eastern Zhejiang, stationed in Wenzhou, and supervised the Northern Expedition. At that time, there was a famine in Wenzhou. Lu Ruoteng took the lead in donating salaries for relief, and was awarded the title of Minister of War by Emperor Longwu. Later, the Qing army broke through Shaoxing and went straight to Wenzhou. Lu Ruoteng firmly guarded Pingyang. When the city was broken, he led his troops to fight in the street. Fortunately, he was saved by the Jinghai Division.
After recovering from the injury, Lu Ruotang organized a volunteer teacher to fight against the Qing Dynasty again, but eventually because the situation had gone, he retired and wrote books. Later, Lu Ruotang, who was determined not to surrender, followed Zheng Chenggong and became his important staff. In 1664, Lu Ruotang died of illness in Penghu.
Lu Ruotang created his own style of works, which historians believe has the characteristics of "supplementing history with poetry". In his life, he wrote such works as "Collected Works of Liu An", "Mutual Research of Fang Yu", "Poems of Dao'e", "Essays of Yougengtang", and "Records of Island Dwelling".
