Wu Zilan 吳子蘭

In Chapter 20 of the Romance, Dong Cheng, General of Chariots and Cavalry, finds inside the lining of the jade belt bestowed by Emperor Xian a secret edict written by the Son of Heaven in his own blood. After he and the Attendant Gentleman Wang Zifu, who has secretly read the edict, write their names and marks on white silk, Wang Zifu says, 'The general Wu Zilan is very close to me; he can join us in this plan,' and Dong Cheng says that among all the ministers at court only the Colonel of the Changshui Chong Ji and the Court Gentleman for Consultation Wu Shuo are his trusted men. Just then the two of them come to visit, and they too read the edict and cannot stop weeping. Romance, Ch. 20 §29–30 · 33–37

Saying, 'You two wait here a while; I will go and bring Wu Zilan,' Wang Zifu goes out and soon returns with Wu Zilan, who greets everyone and then also writes his name. While Dong Cheng is drinking with them in the rear hall, Ma Teng, Grand Administrator of Xiliang, comes to call; having read the edict, Ma Teng too writes his name on the pledge and swears an oath smeared with blood, then points to the five men seated there and says that if they can gather ten men, the great undertaking will succeed. Romance, Ch. 20 §37–38 · 41–42

The pledge that Dong Cheng shows Liu Bei in Chapter 21 bears only six names: first, Dong Cheng, General of Chariots and Cavalry; second, Wang Zifu, Attendant Gentleman of the Ministry of Works; third, Chong Ji, Colonel of the Changshui; fourth, Wu Shuo, Court Gentleman for Consultation; fifth, Wu Zilan, General Who Displays Good Faith; sixth, Ma Teng, Grand Administrator of Xiliang. Liu Bei too writes 'General of the Left Liu Bei' and adds his mark. Romance, Ch. 21 §5–6

In Chapter 23, the servant Qin Qingtong, punished by Dong Cheng, flees to Cao Cao's chancellery and reports that five men—Wang Zifu, Wu Zilan, Chong Ji, Wu Shuo and Ma Teng—discussed a secret matter at his master's house, and that they must surely be plotting against the Chancellor. Cao Cao has the Imperial Physician Ji Ping, caught offering poison, dragged before a banquet of the ministers and beaten, saying that there were already six fellow plotters, and Wang Zifu and the three others, who came to the banquet for fear of arousing suspicion, merely stare at one another as if sitting on a mat of needles. After the banquet breaks up, Cao Cao keeps back only the four of them and confronts them with Qin Qingtong, and when they insist to the end that there was no such thing, he has them seized and imprisoned. Romance, Ch. 23 §38–39 · 45–50

The Romance dates Ji Ping's death, when he dashes his head against the steps, to the 1st month of the 5th year of Jian'an (200). After the edict from the sash and the pledge are found in Dong Cheng's bedroom, in Chapter 24 Cao Cao has Dong Cheng and the four others, together with their entire households, old and young, taken to the various city gates and beheaded; over seven hundred people die in all. After a poem lamenting Dong Cheng, the Romance gives a poem lamenting Wang Zifu and the three others. Romance, Ch. 23 §54 · 57Romance, Ch. 24 §1–4