Wu Shuo 吳碩

In Chapter 20 of the Romance, Dong Cheng, the 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 himself in blood. After he and the Attendant Gentleman Wang Zifu, who secretly read the edict, write their names and signatures on a piece of white silk, Wang Zifu suggests that the general Wu Zilan can be trusted to join the plot, and Dong Cheng says that among all the great ministers at court only the Colonel of the Changshui Chong Ji and the Gentleman Consultant Wu Shuo are his confidants and will surely join him in the undertaking. In the midst of their discussion a household servant announces that Chong Ji and Wu Shuo have come to call. Romance, Ch. 20 §29–30 · 33–35

Dong Cheng hides Wang Zifu behind a screen and receives the two in his study. When Chong Ji asks whether he too resents what happened at the hunt at Xutian, Wu Shuo says that he has sworn to kill this traitor and regrets only that he has no one to help him. When Wang Zifu comes out from behind the screen and says he will denounce the two for plotting to kill Chancellor Cao, Chong Ji angrily rebukes him, and Dong Cheng, laughing, takes the edict from his sleeve and shows it to them. The two read the edict and cannot stop their tears, and Dong Cheng asks them to write their names. Romance, Ch. 20 §36–37

Wu Zilan arrives next, and Ma Teng, the Grand Administrator of Xiliang, also writes his name on the pledge and then proposes bringing in Liu Xuande, the Governor of Yu Province. In Chapter 21 Wu Shuo says that this matter must not be rushed and should be discussed calmly, and they all disperse. On the pledge that Dong Cheng shows Liu Bei the next night only six names are written: the General of Chariots and Cavalry Dong Cheng, the Attendant Gentleman of the Board of Works Wang Zifu, the Colonel of the Changshui Chong Ji, the Gentleman Consultant Wu Shuo, the General Who Displays Good Faith Wu Zilan and the Grand Administrator of Xiliang Ma Teng; Liu Bei too writes 'General of the Left Liu Bei' and adds his signature. Romance, Ch. 20 §38 · 42Romance, Ch. 21 §1–2 · 5–6

In Chapter 23 Dong Cheng laments that, with Liu Xuande and Ma Teng each gone away, he has no plan he can put into effect. Meanwhile Dong Cheng's household servant Qin Qingtong, beaten and locked up for whispering secretly with a concubine, breaks his chain, runs to Cao Cao's Chancellor's residence and reports that five men, Wang Zifu, Wu Zilan, Chong Ji, Wu Shuo and Ma Teng, have been discussing a secret matter at his master's house and must surely be plotting against the Chancellor. Romance, Ch. 23 §37–39

Cao Cao drags the Imperial Physician Ji Ping, who was caught offering him poison, before a banquet and has him flogged, asking whether there were six fellow plotters before and he makes seven, and Wang Zifu and the three others, who have come to the banquet for fear of being suspected, sit as if on a cushion of needles, merely looking at one another. When the banquet ends, Cao Cao keeps back only those four, asks what they discussed with Dong Cheng and what is written on the white silk, and summons Qin Qingtong to confront them. When the four insist to the end that there was no such thing, Cao Cao has them seized and imprisoned, and the next day tells Dong Cheng that he has already arrested them and handed them over to the Commandant of Justice. Romance, Ch. 23 §45–50 · 52

The Romance dates the moment when Ji Ping dashed his head against the steps and died to the 1st month of the 5th year of Jian'an (200). When the edict hidden in the sash and the pledge are found in Dong Cheng's bedchamber, in Chapter 24 Cao Cao has Dong Cheng and the others, five men in all, together with their entire households, old and young, dragged to the city gates and beheaded, and more than 700 people die in all. Following a poem lamenting Dong Cheng, the Romance also gives a poem lamenting Wang Zifu and the three others. Romance, Ch. 23 §54 · 57Romance, Ch. 24 §1–4