Wutugu 兀突骨

In Chapter 90 of the Romance, when Meng Huo, who had lost his cave stronghold to the Shu army, asked where he could take refuge, the Dailai Cave Chief named the Kingdom of Wuge, 700 li to the southeast, and its lord Wutugu. When Meng Huo went to Wutugu, who lived in an earthen cave, bowed again and again and lamented all that had happened, Wutugu promised to raise the troops of his cave and avenge him, and summoned his troop-leading chieftains Tu'an and Xini. The 30,000 troops, all in rattan armor, left the Kingdom of Wuge and pitched camp at Peach Blossom Ford on the Peach Blossom River, whose water doubled the vigor of the people of Wuge alone when they drank it. Romance, Ch. 90 §31–34

The next day, when the Rattan Armor troops led by the lord of Wuge crossed the river, the Shu army's crossbow bolts could not pierce the rattan armor, nor could blades and spears get through, and Wei Yan's troops were all defeated and fled. When Wei Yan went after them, he saw that those among the barbarian troops who were tired took off their armor, floated it on the water and crossed the river sitting on it. Romance, Ch. 90 §36–37

When Meng Huo warned that Zhuge Liang would in the end resort to ambushes and that they must not advance rashly into places thick with trees, Wutugu said he already knew that the people of the Central Kingdom were much given to trickery, and that he would fight in front while Meng Huo instructed and directed from behind. Wei Yan, under Zhuge Liang's orders, fled toward the white banners in every engagement, losing fifteen battles and abandoning seven camps, while Wutugu pursued in person at the head of his army but would not advance wherever flags could be seen among thick woods. Romance, Ch. 90 §42–47

When Meng Huo said that Zhuge Liang's schemes were already exhausted, Wutugu was overjoyed and stopped giving any thought to the Shu army. On the sixteenth day he rode at the front on an elephant, wearing a wolf-whisker cap with sun and moon designs and draped in tassels of gold and pearls, and reviled Wei Yan; then he pursued the fleeing Wei Yan into Panshe Valley, where there was neither grass nor tree. When the mouth of the valley was blocked with logs, stones and dry firewood and the fuses buried in the ground caught fire, Wutugu and the 30,000 Rattan Armor troops were burned to death inside Panshe Valley, clinging to one another. Romance, Ch. 90 §47–51

Zhuge Liang, looking down on this from the mountain, shed tears, saying that though he had rendered service to the state, his own life would surely be shortened by it. Back in camp, he explained why he had used fire: rattan armor, though impervious to blade and arrow, was soaked in oil and would surely catch fire when it met flame; and he said that wiping out the people of the Kingdom of Wuge so that not even their seed remained was his own great crime. Romance, Ch. 90 §51–52 · 57–59