Wu Yong

Nicknamed The Resourceful Wizard (智多星), Wu Yong (Traditional Chinese: 呉用; Simplified Chinese: 吴用; pinyin: Wú Yòng) ranked third in seniority amongst the 108 heroes of Liangshan and was one of the 36 Heavenly Spirits.

Main biography

He was born with a fair and handsome face and a long beard. Recruited by Chao Gai right from the beginning of the "Water Margin", Wu can probably best be compared as an equivalent to great military strategists like Zhuge Liang. Ever crafty and full of schemes, both Chao and Song Jiang were to depend on his expert military strategies to fight Liangshan's cause, although at times Wu deep down wanted to dissuade Song from serving the imperial government.

In the beginning of the tale, we see how Wu Yong schemed with Chao Gai, Liu Tang, the three Ruan brothers and Gongsun Sheng to rob the birthday gifts of Cai Jing which were being escorted by Yang Zhi and his soldiers. The group disguised themselves as traders and lured the soldiers into drinking spiked wine, making them all fall asleep. Then, the group made off with the birthday gifts, worth a large sum of money, causing Yang - who was a descendant of the Yang Family Generals - to get into huge trouble with the authorities.

After the robbing incident, the authorities sent He Tao and a band of soldiers to arrest Chao Gai and company, who had fled to Liangshan Marsh after being alerted of the danger by Song Jiang. Wu Yong used a strategy and defeated He Tao and his soldiers. On Liangshan Mountain, Wu Yong cleverly urged Lin Chong into killing the unfaithful and narrow-hearted Wang Lun right in front of the latter's subordinates, Song Wan and Du Qian. Chao Gai was elected leader of the Liangshan bandits.

Once, Song Jiang was framed and thrown into prison. Wu Yong invited Xiao Rang and Jin Da-jian to forge a letter from Cai Jing authorising Song Jiang's release. Unfortunately, Jin made a mistake with the seal on the letter, and the forgery was exposed by Huang Wenbing. Luckily, Wu Yong noticed the mistake in time and informed Chao Gai. Chao and the bandits stormed the execution ground and rescued Song Jiang. Throughout the story, Wu Yong's military strategies were instrumental in defeating the enemies of the Liangshan bandits many times, making great contributions to the band, and lived up to his name as the chief military strategist of the Liangshan bandits.

After the pact with the Imperial Court, Wu Yong made achievements together with the band in defeating the invading Liao Tartars from the north as well as other rebels. He was offered a title of an official and held office for quite some time. Later, when he heard that Song Jiang and Li Kui had committed suicide when they were poisoned by the government officials, he was filled with grief. Hua Rong and Wu went to Chuzhou, where they hung themselves beside Song Jiang's grave, bringing a tragic conclusion to the glorious exploits of the Liangshan heroes, who took it upon themselves to 'deliver justice on Heaven's behalf'.

Films and TV adaptations

In the 1997 TV serial from Mainland China based on the novel, Wu Yong was played by Ning Xiaozhi. He did not hang himself beside Song Jiang's grave in the TV serial, but hung himself inside the Assembly Hall in Liangshan.

Notes