Wu Anguo is a general under Kong Rong, the governor of Beihai, during the coalition against Dong Zhuo in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He enters the fighting at Hulao Pass after Lü Bu has already killed Fang Yue and Mu Shun. Unlike those two spearmen, Wu Anguo wields an iron hammer, a weapon that gives his brief appearance a distinct place among the coalition’s champions.
Wu Anguo rides out and fights Lü Bu for more than ten bouts. This is still not enough to overcome Lü Bu, but it is a far more sustained resistance than the fatal exchanges that precede it. Lü Bu finally strikes with the halberd and cuts off Wu Anguo’s hand at the wrist. Wu drops the hammer and retreats, while eight allied lords send their forces forward together to rescue him. He survives the encounter instead of dying on the field.
The novel does not provide Wu Anguo with a later independent campaign or a detailed personal history, so his importance remains concentrated at Hulao Pass. Even so, his performance has a clear martial weight. He withstands Lü Bu long enough for the battle to become a genuine contest and requires a mass intervention to escape after being maimed. Between the instant deaths of Fang Yue and Mu Shun and the later pursuit of Gongsun Zan, Wu Anguo marks the strongest allied resistance before the famous heroes themselves take the field.
