Kong Liang

Kong Liang (孔亮) is a character in "Water Margin".

Kong Liang was the younger brother of Kong Ming. He was good-looking, had a round face and large ears, wide lips and a squarish mouth, and stood at 7 feet. Kong Liang was impatient by nature and loved getting into quarrels, thus earning him the nickname 'Lonely fiery star' (独火星). Kong Liang and his brother were both fond of martial arts so they acknowledged Song Jiang as their teacher and learned martial arts from Song.

Once, Wu Song fled to the Kongs' manor after killing the governor of Mengzhou. He was unhappy when the shopkeeper only sold the good quality wine to Kong Liang and had a quarrel with Kong. Kong Liang fought with Wu Song but was no match for Wu Song and was knocked out by Wu Song with a few blows. Then, Wu Song threw the unconscious Kong Liang into the river and continued on his journey.

When Kong Liang regained consciousness, he was still fuming with Wu Song and gathered 20-30 men with his brother. They caught up with Wu Song and were able to overcome Wu Song as Wu was in a drunken stupor. They tied Wu Song to a tree and had him severely whipped for revenge. Luckily, Song Jiang recognised Wu Song and freed him.

Later, the Kong brothers killed a landlord and became bandits on Baihu Mountain. They attacked Qingzhou when their uncle was thrown into prison by the governor. Kong Ming was no match for Huyuan Zhuo and was captured. Kong Liang fled to Liangshan to seek help and eventually the Liangshan heroes conquered Qingzhou and rescued Kong Ming. The Kong brothers then joined the Liangshan band.

Kong Liang became one of the leaders of the Liangshan infantry and 72 Earthly Fiends. After Song Jiang had obtained amnesty from the emperor, Kong Liang followed the Liangshan heroes on their campaigns against the Liao Tartars and southern rebels. During the Fang La campaign, Kong Liang followed the Ruan brothers to attack Kunshan, but he was not a swimmer and fell into the river, where he eventually drowned.