In the Water Margin
Meng Kang comes from Zhending and is skilled at building boats of every size. Ordered to build great ships for the rock-and-flower tribute, he kills the supervising officer who keeps hounding and punishing him, and flees to the greenwood. Tall, pale and well built, he is called Jade Flagpole. With Deng Fei he holds Yinma River, where they rescue the exiled clerk Pei Xuan.
Invited by Dai Zong, he comes to Liangshan with the Yinma River band and is put in charge of building the fleet's warships, taking seat seventy beneath the Diman star. In the river fighting below Wulong Ridge during the campaign against Fang La, he is struck by a cannon shot and killed.
