Wu Ji武吉

History vs. fiction

The folk legend of the woodcutter who became a prime minister

• novel inventionThe woodcutter Wu Ji accidentally killed someone and was imprisoned, but was rescued by Jiang Ziya who drew a prison on the ground and used magic, and later became his disciple.

  The story of Wu Ji in "Investiture of the Gods" is full of fatalism and mysticism. The plot points of his accidental killing of Wang Xiang, King Wen drawing a circle on the ground as a prison, and Jiang Ziya using the art of repelling stars to exonerate him greatly highlight Jiang Ziya's divine predictive abilities. The official history, "Records of the Grand Historian: The Hereditary House of Qi Tai Gong," does record the historical fact that Lü Shang (Jiang Tai Gong) fished by the Wei River awaiting King Wen, but it never mentions that he took on a woodcutter apprentice named Wu Ji and helped him escape the law. Wu Ji and his deeds are not found in pre-Qin official histories; they are entirely fictional creations by later generations to enrich the anecdotes of Tai Gong. According to "Investiture of the Gods, Chapter 24," the original text says: 「你要我救你，你拜吾为师，我方救你」