Wu Can was an official of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period. The Records of the Three Kingdoms say his courtesy name was Kongxiu and that he came from Wucheng in Wu commandery. Wikidata's Chinese label is also Wu Can, so the heading stays the personal name. This entry records his life as 187 to 245, with a birthplace in the Huzhou area.[1][3]
Origins and early career
The Records say that when Sun He was a county chief, Wu Can was a minor clerk and Sun He thought highly of him. When Sun He later became a general and could choose his own senior officials, he recommended Wu Can as assistant of Quwu and then promoted him to chief clerk, with a reputation for good administration. Though he rose from an obscure family, he stood level in reputation with fellow townsmen such as Lu Xun and Bu Jing. When Sun Quan was general of chariots and cavalry he called Wu Can as record keeper, then sent him out as magistrate of Shanyin and recalled him as colonel of staff. Pei Songzhi's note quotes the Wu Lu that when Wu Can was a few years old a woman saw him and told his mother that the boy had the bones of a minister.[3]
Dongkou
In the first year of Huangwu, Wu Can, Lu Fan, He Qi and others held off the Wei general Cao Xiu at Dongkou with the fleet. A great wind snapped the ships' cables. Many drifted ashore and were captured by Wei, or capsized. Around the large ships that were left, people in the water clung on and cried out, but other officers and soldiers, fearing the ships would capsize, beat them off with spears. Only Wu Can and Huang Yuan had their crews haul the people aboard. Their attendants said the ship was heavy and must go down. Wu Can replied that if the ship sank they would die together, and that when people were at their last limit one could not abandon them. Wu Can and Huang Yuan saved more than a hundred.[3]
Provincial and court posts
On his return he became grand administrator of Kuaiji. He called the retired scholar Xie Tan to be his bureau head. Xie Tan pleaded illness, and Wu Can sent him a note urging him not to hide himself so deep. Wu Can also raised troops and was made colonel who exemplifies righteousness. With Lü Dai he put down the Shanyue, then came to court as colonel of the cavalry garrison and minister of the household, and was promoted to grand tutor of the heir.[3]
The dispute of the two palaces and his death
When the affair of the two palaces broke out, Wu Can spoke out and held to what was correct, insisting on the distinction between the legitimate heir and the other son. He wanted Sun Ba, Prince of Lu, to be sent to garrison Xiakou, and Yang Zhu not to be allowed to stay in the capital. He also repeatedly passed news to Lu Xun, then stationed at Wuchang, who sent memorial after memorial in protest. For this Sun Ba, Yang Zhu and others slandered him, and he was put in prison and executed. In his closing comment Chen Shou pairs him with Zhu Ju: both met hard times and lost their lives for standing on the right, and he calls it sad.[3][2]