Not much is known about Wu Zhaoyi's personal background, including when he was born, but it is known that he was from Longmen. It was said that he was renowned in his knowledge and talent. When the Later Tang general Meng Zhixiang was commissioned by Later Tang's first emperor Li Cunxu as the military governor of Xichuan Circuit in late 925 in light of Later Tang's recent conquest of its southwestern neighbor Former Shu, Meng invited Wu to serve as his secretary. After Li Cunxu was killed in a mutiny in 926 and succeeded by his adoptive brother Li Siyuan, Li Siyuan tried to assert more control over Meng by sending the official Li Yan to serve as the monitor of the Xichuan army later in the year, Wu suggested Meng to deny Li Yan entry, but Meng did not agree. He ultimately allowed Li Yan to come to Xichuan's capital Chengdu, and then found an excuse to kill Li Yan. Despite his not having agreed with Wu, however, Meng saw Wu's point and believed him to be talented, and therefore wanted to find greater responsibilities for him.
As Later Shu official
After Meng Zhixiang declared himself the emperor of a new independent state of Later Shu in 934, he commissioned Wu Zhaoyi as the deputy chief imperial censor. Meng died later in 934, and was succeeded by his son Meng Chang. In 935, Wu was given the titles of Zhongshu Shilang and Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi, making him a chancellor. He was later made Menxia Shilang. In 940, when fellow chancellor Zhao Jiliang, who had been overseeing the three financial agencies, asked to have that responsibility divided between him, Wu, and fellow chancellor Zhang Ye, Meng Chang put Wu in charge of salt and iron monopolies and Zhang in charge of treasury, leaving Zhao in charge of taxation. In 948, two generals of Later Han, Wang Jingchong the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit, and Zhao Siwan, who then controlled Yongxing Circuit, rebelled against Later Han and entered an alliance with another rebel general, Li Shouzhen. However, they also sent emissaries to Later Shu, offering to submit to Meng Chang. Meng sent An Siqian the military governor of Shannan West Circuit to aid them. Wu submitted a petition urging against it, pointing out the examples of Li Cunxu and Former Shu's last emperorWang Zongyan as those who overly exerted their armies. Meng did not listen to him. Ultimately, the campaign was not successful, and Later Shu was unable to add those circuits to its possessions. Several years later, Wu retired with the honorific titleTaizi Taishi. It was said that Wu was an ardent book collector and favored the study of old Confucian classic texts. He had the official Zhang Dezhao copy the classics and carve them on stone tablets to be displayed at Chengdu, in the example of Tang Dynasty's display of such classics at its capital Chang'an. Further, it was said that the Shu region had lacked schools ever since Tang fell. Wu expended his private wealth to build schools and dormitories, and also persuaded Meng to have the Four Books and Five Classics reprinted. He also had his followers Gou Wenzheng and Sun Jiangji reprint a number of poetic texts that he considered worthy of publication, and the Baishi Liutie ). Wu himself authored three volumes of commentaries on the sounds of the characters used in the Erya. It is not known when Wu died, although presumably it was before the fall of Later Shu in 965. After Later Shu's fall, Wu's son Wu Shousu became an official of Song Dynasty, and the books that Wu had published were spread throughout the land by Wu Shousu's efforts.
