Wu Yong

Wu Yong
Water Margin character
Wu Yong in a Japanese painting
Nickname	"Resourceful Star" 智多星
Also known as	Xuejiu 學究
Rank	3rd, Knowledge Star (天機星) of 36 Heavenly Spirits
Chief strategist of Liangshan
Origin	Professor
Ancestral home / Place of origin	Yuncheng County, Heze, Shandong
First appearance	Chapter 14
Weapon	Bronze hammer
Names
Simplified Chinese	吴用
Traditional Chinese	吳用
Pinyin	Wú Yòng
Wade–Giles	Wu Yung

Wu Yong is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. He ranks 3rd of the 36 Heavenly Spirits of the 108 Liangshan heroes and is nicknamed "Resourceful Star".

The novel describes Wu Yong as a man with a fair and handsome face and a long beard, which are characteristics of a sophisticated ancient Chinese scholar. Wu Yong is one of the seven men who initiated the founding of the Liangshan cause and one of the earliest to join the outlaw band.

Despite his humble origin as a professor of literary arts, Wu Yong is actually a brilliant military strategist and advisor. He is nicknamed "Resourceful Star" for his wits, and is said to be comparable to Zhuge Liang and Chen Ping. His expertise is vital in the battle for Liangshan's cause of "delivering justice on Heaven's behalf". The Liangshan heroes rely heavily on him for battle plans.

Wu Yong plots with Chao Gai, Gongsun Sheng, Liu Tang and the Ruan brothers to rob a convoy of birthday gifts for Cai Jing, the Imperial Tutor. The seven men disguise themselves as date traders and succeed in tricking the soldiers escorting the convoy into drinking drugged wine. Once the escorts are knocked out, the seven men make off with the gifts, which are worth a large sum of money. Grand Secretary Liang Shijie, who prepared the gifts for his father-in-law Cai Jing, is furious and he orders the local government to investigate the incident and arrest the robbers.

The authorities send He Tao to lead a group of soldiers to arrest Chao Gai and his companions. With help from Zhu Tong, Lei Heng and Song Jiang, Chao Gai and company succeed in escaping and make their way to Liangshan Marsh. Wu Yong devises a strategy to lure He Tao and his men into an ambush in the marsh. In the ensuing battle, the seven men score a major victory by defeating He Tao's troops, who number at least 100. At Liangshan, Wu Yong instigates Lin Chong into killing the incompetent and selfish chief Wang Lun. Chao Gai is then nominated to be the new chief of Liangshan. Wu Yong takes the second position of leadership.