Wu Can 吾粲

Wu Can's courtesy name was Kongxiu, and he was a man of Wucheng County in Wu Commandery. When Sun He was county chief, Wu Can was a petty clerk, and Sun He thought him most remarkable. When Sun He later became a general and was able to choose his own officials, he memorialized to make Wu Can Assistant of Qu'e, and Wu Can was transferred to Chief Clerk and left a name for good administration. Although he rose from lowly and humble origins, he came to stand shoulder to shoulder and share renown with Lu Xun, Bu Jing and others of the same commandery. Records, Wu 12 §77

Gu Shao promoted Wu Can of Wucheng and Yin Li of Yunyang, among others, who had risen from humble origins, made them all his friends and built up their reputations. Gu Shao's biography records that Wu Can later became Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince, and says that the world regarded Gu Shao as a good judge of men. In his assessment for Volume 7, too, Chen Shou wrote that Wu Can came from among the herd boys, but Yuzhang (Gu Shao) brought out his merits and set him in the ranks of the Lu and Quan families. Records, Wu 7 §37–39 · 92

When Sun Quan became General of Chariots and Cavalry, he summoned Wu Can as his Registrar, and Wu Can went out as Prefect of Shanyin and came back as Colonel Adviser to the Army. Records, Wu 12 §77

In the 1st year of Huangwu (222), Wu Can, together with Lü Fan, He Qi and others, led a navy to resist the Wei general Cao Xiu at Dongkou. Just then a great wind blew and the cables of many ships snapped, so that the ships drifted away and sank, or reached the shore and were captured by the Wei army, or capsized and went down. On the large ships that still remained, people alive in the water clung to them and cried out, but the other officers and soldiers, fearing that their ships would tilt and sink, all struck at them with spears and halberds and would not take them in. Records, Wu 12 §78

Wu Can and Huang Yuan alone ordered their boatmen to pull them up. When those around him said that the ship would grow too heavy and would surely sink, Wu Can said, 'If the ship sinks, we shall simply die together! When people are in dire straits, how can we abandon them?' Wu Can and Huang Yuan saved more than a hundred people. Records, Wu 12 §78–79

On his return he was transferred to Administrator of Kuaiji. He summoned the recluse scholar Xie Tan to be his Officer of Merit, but when Xie Tan pleaded illness and did not come, Wu Can issued an instruction saying, 'The winged dragon is divine because it can bend and stretch, and the phoenix is prized for its fine song; why must one hide one's form beyond the heavens and conceal one's scales in the deep abyss?' Wu Can recruited and gathered men, was appointed Zhaoyi General of the Household, and together with Lü Dai suppressed and pacified the Shanyue. Records, Wu 12 §80

When the bandit Li Huan and others of Luling rose in revolt, Sun Quan sent Lü Dai to attack them, and in the 5th year of Jiahe (236) the General of the Household Wu Can captured Li Huan. The biography of Zhou Fang records that when the bandit chief Dong Si, relying on difficult terrain, was plundering Yuzhang and Linchuan, Wu Can and Tang Zi attacked and besieged him with 3,000 troops but could not take his stronghold for several months. Records, Wu 2 §78–80Records, Wu 15 §73–74

Wu Can entered the court as Colonel of Garrison Cavalry and Privy Treasurer, and was then transferred to Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince. In the 4th year of Chiwu (241), in the letter he submitted before his death, the Crown Prince Sun Deng named Wu Can, together with Zhuge Jin, Bu Zhi, Zhu Ran, Quan Cong, Zhu Ju, Lü Dai, Kan Ze and others, as ministers who were loyal to the state and well versed in the essentials of government. Records, Wu 12 §80Records, Wu 14 §12 · 14

When the strife between the two palaces arose, Wu Can spoke out boldly and held to what was right, making clear the distinction between the heir and the other sons, and sought to have Sun Ba, the King of Lu, sent out to garrison Xiakou and to keep Yang Zhu from remaining in the capital. He also repeatedly sent news to Lu Xun, who was stationed at Wuchang, and Lu Xun submitted one memorial of remonstrance after another. For this Wu Can was slandered by Sun Ba, Yang Zhu and others, imprisoned and executed. The Biography of Sun He (孫和) records that Quan Ji (全寄) and Yang Zhu became partisans of the King of Lu and slanders arose day by day. Records, Wu 12 §81Records, Wu 14 §28

According to the biography of Lu Xun, when the Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince Wu Can was implicated for having exchanged letters with Lu Xun several times and died in prison, Sun Quan repeatedly sent palace envoys to reproach Lu Xun, and Lu Xun died of indignation and grief. Lu Xun died in the 2nd month of the 8th year of Chiwu (245), but the Records does not separately give the year of Wu Can's death. Records, Wu 13 §56Records, Wu 2 §103

In his assessment for Volume 12, Chen Shou said, 'Wu Can and Zhu Ju met with hard and perilous times and lost their lives by holding to what was right; how sad!' Records, Wu 12 §90