Meng Kang 孟康

According to the Biographies of Han, Cui, Gao, Sun and Wang in Records of Wei 24, in the 1st year of Jingchu (237), when the posts of Minister over the Masses and Minister of Works were both vacant, the Cavalier Attendant Gentleman Meng Kang recommended Cui Lin. He said that since a chief minister is one to whom the whole realm looks up and whom it takes as a model, the post should go to a man who holds fast to loyalty and walks the upright path, who is rooted in virtue and relies on righteousness, and who is fit to be a teacher and exemplar for all within the seas. Records, Wei 24 §16

Meng Kang went on to say that the Colonel-Director of Retainers Cui Lin had received an upright nature from heaven and possessed a lofty, elegant and broad magnanimity; comparing his strengths with men of old, in being loyal and upright without bending he was of the company of Shi Yu, and in being pure, frugal and restrained he was the equal of Ji Wen. He added that wherever Cui Lin governed provinces and commanderies they were well ordered, and that when he took charge of the outer administration everything for ten thousand li became solemn and orderly, so that he was truly an excellent vessel for a chief minister and a fine talent for the post of one of the Three Excellencies. Records, Wei 24 §16–17

The following year Cui Lin at last became Minister of Works and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Anyang Precinct with a fief of 600 households. Chen Shou wrote that the enfeoffment of the Three Excellencies as full marquises began with Cui Lin. Records, Wei 24 §17

This single passage is the only place where Meng Kang appears in Chen Shou's main text; his courtesy name and origin, any office other than Cavalier Attendant Gentleman, his later life and his death are not recorded. The assessment of Records of Wei 24 discusses only Han Ji, Cui Lin and others, and does not mention Meng Kang. Records, Wei 24 §16 · 81