In the Water Margin
Zhu Wu is the thirty-seventh hero of Liangshan and the first of the seventy-two earthly stars, born under Dikui (地魁星). He comes from Dingyuan, wields a pair of swords, and above all knows battle formations and strategy, which is why he is called the Divine Strategist (神机军师). When the novel meets him he is the first chief of the bandits of Mount Shaohua, with Chen Da and Yang Chun as his sworn brothers.
He is a schemer from his first scene. When Chen Da is captured by the young squire Shi Jin, Zhu Wu does not fight; he works out a plan that wins Shi Jin's heart instead, and Shi Jin's friendship changes all their lives. Years later the Shaohua band follows Shi Jin to Liangshan. There Zhu Wu shares the planning of battles with Wu Yong, and in the long campaigns after the amnesty he often climbs to high ground to read the enemy's formations. At the end, rather than take office, he and Fan Rui go to Gongsun Sheng to become Taoists.
Key episodes
The bitter plan. Chen Da lies bound in Shi Jin's manor. Zhu Wu and Yang Chun walk there with their own hands tied, kneel and weep, asking to die together with their brother. Shi Jin is so moved that he frees them all. Zhu Wu later admits the scene was his plan, and it worked because the loyalty in it was real.
A strategist's seat. At the grand assembly Zhu Wu is named to assist Wu Yong in military affairs, the only chief who shares that title with Liangshan's head strategist.
Breaking the Mangdang band. When the sorcerer Fan Rui threatens Liangshan from Mount Mangdang, Zhu Wu helps Gongsun Sheng lay out an ancient eight-part battle array that traps Fan Rui's men, and in the end the sorcerer submits.
