Wu Yong

Nicknamed 'The Resourceful Wizard', Wu Yong ranked third in seniority amongst the 108 heroes of Liangshan. He was born with a fair and handsome face, a long beard. Recruited by Chao Gai right from the beginning of Water Margin, Wu can probably best be compared as a equivalent to the greatest military strategist of all time, Zhuge Liang. Ever crafty and full of schemes, both Chao and Song Jiang were to depend on his expert military strategies to fight Liangshan's cause, although at times Wu deep down wanted to dissuade Song from serving the imperial government.

Wu Yong onced ganged up with Chao Gai, Liu Tang, the three Ruan brothers and Gongsun Sheng to rob the birthday gifts of Cai Jing which were being escorted by Yang Zhi and the soldiers. The group disguised themselves as traders and lured the soldiers into drinking the spiked wine, making them all fall asleep. Then, the group made off with the birthday gifts worth a large sum of money.

After the robbing incident happened, the authorities sent He Tao and a band of soldiers to arrest Chao Gai and company, whom had fled to Liangshan Marsh after being alerted by Song Jiang. Wu Yong used a strategy and defeated He Tao and his soldiers. On Liangshan Mountain, Wu Yong cleverly urged Lin Chong into killing the unfaithful and narrow-hearted Wang Lun. Then, Chao Gai was elected leader of the Liangshan bandits.

Once, Song Jiang was framed and thrown into prison. Wu Yong invited Xiao Rang and Jin Dajian to forge a letter by Cai Jing into releasing Song Jiang. Unfortunately, Jin Dajian made some mistake with the seal on the letter and the forgery was exposed by Huang Wenbing. Luckily, Wu Yong sensed the mistake earlier and had informed Chao Gai. Chao Gai and the bandits stormed the execution ground and rescued Song Jiang.

Wu Yong used his strategies and defeated the enemies of the Liangshan bandits several times, making great contributions to the band, and lived up to his name as the chief military strategist of the Liangshan bandits.

After the pact with the Imperial Court, Wu Yong made achievements together with the band in defeating the invading Liao troops and the other rebels. He was offered a title of an official and held office for quite some time. Later, he heard that Song Jiang and Li Kui had committed suicide. He was filled with grief and sadness, thus he and Hua Rong went to Chuzhou, where they hung themselves beside Song Jiang's grave.