Chinese Name: Gong Wang 

Japanese Name: Kakōko Gyōō

Rank: 78th of the 108 Stars of Destiny 

Nickname: Flowery Necked Tiger 

Gong Wang and Ding Desun (plate 105) were the military aids of General Zhang Qing (plate 89) at Dongcheng Prefecture. All three were excellent horsemen and fought as a team. Zhang Qing took the lead and was unmatched with his rock throwing; Gong Wang was a master with his spear, and Ding Desun was equally skilled with a three pronged trident. Gong Wang was tattooed with stripes of a tiger on his body and had a tiger’s head on his neck.  

The Liangshan bandits were in need of rice and decided to borrow some from two of their neighboring prefectures; Dongcheng, and Dongping. Neither prefectures were willing to concede grain to the bandits, so Liangshan’s leaders assembled troops to take it by force—Lu Junyi (plate 68) led a brigade to Dongcheng and Song Jiang (plate 107) led a brigade to Dongping (see plate 88 for Song Jiang’s campaign against Dongping). 

When Lu Junyi arrived at Dongcheng, he was met by Zhang Qing and his army. Zhang Qing, being the superior strategist and fighter, was able to fend off Lu Junyi and his brigade. Song Jiang’s raid on Dongping had been a success and when he learned of Lu Junyi’s trouble, he took his men to Dongcheng to aid in his comrade’s fight. With the arrival of Song Jiang and his troops, the Liangshan bandits were able to capture Gong Wang and Ding Desun which severely hindered Zhang Qing’s fighting abilities. It was not long after, that Zhang Qing was captured as well.

Zhang Qing had wounded many of Liangshan’s leaders during the conflict, and some of them wanted him killed, but Song Jiang stepped in and would not allow it. He saluted Zhang Qing. He told him the conflict was unintentional; they had merely wanted to borrow rice, and he asked for Zhang Qing‘s forgiveness. Zhang Qing was so moved by Song Jiang’s compassion for his defeated enemy, he joined with the Liangshan bandits at once. Gong Wang and Ding Desun, witnessing their leader’s reformation, pledged their allegiance as well.  

Gong Wang is shown here holding his spear with his tiger tattoo showing. 

Isaac Nichols original