生平

據《鳴沙石室佚書》所收伯希和寫本《晉紀》「劉勿慝、孔萇（闕字）晉人則程瑕、徐光」，孔萇可能是胡人，和石勒十八騎之一的孔豚可能是同一人或同族。

永鳳二年（309年）三月，漢國安東大將軍石勒進犯巨鹿、常山，聚眾十餘萬，聚集衣冠人物，號為君子營，以張賓為謀主，刁膺為股肱，夔安、孔萇、支雄、桃豹、逯明為爪牙，并州的胡人、羯人多追隨他。

光興二年（311年）四月，石勒發兵追趕西晉太傅東海王司馬越的送喪隊，俘獲太尉王衍、襄陽王司馬范、任城王司馬濟、武陵王司馬澹、西河王司馬喜、梁王司馬禧、齊王司馬超、吏部尚書劉望、廷尉諸葛銓、尚書鄭豫、豫州刺史劉喬、太傅長史庾敳等，問孔萇：「我在天下間行走多時，還從沒見過這樣的人，需要留下他們嗎？」孔萇回答說：「他們都是晉朝的王公大臣，終究不可以為我們所用。」于是石勒把他們都殺了。

嘉平二年（312年）二月，石勒在葛陂與聚集在壽春的晉軍對峙，大雨不止，軍中飢疫，死者大半，得知晉軍將至，集合將佐商議。孔萇、支雄等三十餘將請求趁晉軍沒有集結，各自率三百軍隊乘船分三十餘路分兵夜攻壽春，斬晉將頭，占據其城，搶其糧食，在當年就攻破丹楊，平定江南。石勒笑稱這是勇將之計，各賜鎧馬一匹，但沒有採納而是撤軍了。六月，石勒從葛陂北行，因一路皆堅壁清野，軍隊餓到互相吃。七月，石勒行軍到東燕時聽張賓之計，派支雄、孔萇從文石津綁木筏潛渡黃河，奪取汲郡塢堡首領向冰的船，石勒引兵從棘津渡河，大破向冰，盡得其錢財儲糧，軍勢複振，因而長驅到鄴城，本已降晉的原漢國長史臨深、將軍牟穆等又率眾投降石勒。

十二月，段部鮮卑首領西晉遼西公段疾陸眷屯于渚陽，對石勒作戰屢戰屢勝，大造攻具將要攻打襄國，石勒軍很害怕，石勒召集將佐合計，說要全軍決戰，諸將建議堅守以疲敵，等其退兵再攻擊。石勒看向張賓、孔萇問二人的看法，二人認為段氏鮮卑在鮮卑中最勇悍，精兵都在最勇悍的段疾陸眷從弟段末柸處，段軍遠道而來又連日作戰一定輕敵懈怠，應該不出戰以示弱，其實將北城鑿出二十多個突門，出其不意直取段末柸營帳，敵軍必定驚駭來不及計劃，必定可破，只要擊破段末柸，其他軍隊也不攻自潰。石勒採納，以孔萇為攻戰都督，在北城造突門，登城看到段軍將士有的已經放下武器睡覺，就讓孔萇督銳卒從突門出擊，城上擊鼓助威。孔萇與段末柸交戰後偽退誘其來追，段末柸追入營門後被俘，段疾陸眷等軍都退走，孔萇乘勝追擊，枕尸三十餘里，獲得鎧馬五千匹。

嘉平三年（313年）五月，石勒派孔萇攻打定陵，殺兗州刺史田徽，青州刺史薄盛率所部投降石勒，山東郡縣相繼為石勒所取。漢帝劉聰以石勒為侍中、征東大將軍。烏桓也秘密依附石勒。

麟嘉元年（316年）十一月，石勒以孔萇為前鋒都督，自己以伏兵大破晉代國信義將軍箕澹步騎二萬，獲鎧馬萬計。箕澹、左將軍衛雄率千餘騎奔代郡，樂平太守韓據棄城而逃，并州震駭。孔萇追殺箕澹到桑乾。十二月，孔萇攻殺箕澹于代郡。孔萇等又攻賊帥馬嚴、馮䐗，久而不克，石勒聽張賓計謀，召回孔萇等，任武遂令李回為易北督護，兼高陽太守，變剿為撫，馬嚴遭部下背棄投水自殺，馮䐗率眾投降。

光初二年（319年），石勒建立後趙，稱趙王。四月，孔萇攻取幽州諸郡。趙王二年（320年）正月，石勒知晉冀州刺史邵續勢孤，遣從子侍中開府中山公石虎率兵圍厭次，孔萇攻邵續別營十一處，都攻克，次月俘獲邵續，邵續部下推段疾陸眷弟晉幽州刺史段匹磾為主。六月，孔萇攻打段匹磾，攻陷段匹磾弟段文鴦十餘營，恃勝而不設備，被段文鴦襲擊大破。趙王三年（321年）三月，石虎攻段匹磾于厭次，孔萇攻破段匹磾治下諸城，趙軍隨即俘獲段文鴦、段匹磾，後來將他們和邵續都殺害了。

此後史書再無記載孔萇的活動。

注釋及參考文獻

Life

According to the Sinologist Paul Pelliot's transcript of the Jin Ji (晉紀), collected in Luo Zhenyu's Mingsha Shishi Yushu (鳴沙石室佚書), it is likely that Kong Chang was from one of the nomadic tribes and not Han Chinese. In the transcript, he is not grouped in the list of Han Chinese that served Zhao such as Xu Guang and Cheng Xia. He may also be the same person as one of Shi Le's Eighteen Riders (十八騎), Kong Tun (孔豚), as tún (豚) used to be phonetically similar to cháng (萇). In 309, after Shi Le's conquered the commanderies of Julu and Changshan, Kong Chang was appointed as Shi's "talon and teeth" (爪牙) along with Zhi Xiong, Kui An, Tao Bao and Lu Ming (逯明).

In 311, Shi Le captured the Jin minister, Wang Yan and many other officials who were preparing Sima Yue's funeral. Before Shi Le decided to execute them all, he noticed the prince Sima Fan (司馬範) who was the only one who kept a calm expression. Shi Le asked Kong Chang for his advice, whether he should recruit Fan into his ranks. Kong Chang disagreed, telling him, "They are princes and nobles of Jin, one and all. They will be no use to you in the end." Although Shi Le took his advice, he also decided not to kill the prisoners by the sword, but rather by having his men push down a wall on them to crush them.

The following year, Kong Chang participated in Shi Le's attack on Sima Rui's base in Jianye. However, the campaign was struck by disaster early on when a storm broke out and half of Shi Le's army died of hunger. He gathered his generals to plan out his next move as Sima Rui's army approached. Kong Chang and Zhi Xiong recommended that they launch a night raid on Shouchun before breaking through Danyang. Shi Le considered it but at the advice of Zhang Bin, he decided to abandon the campaign to shift his focus to Yecheng, although he did carry out an attack on Shouchun to demoralize the Jin army.

As Shi Le returned north, his army continued to suffer from hunger, with many in the ranks even resorting to cannibalism. To make matter worse, Jin's Inspector of Jizhou, Xiang Bing (向冰), was defending Fangtou (枋頭, in modern Hebi, Henan), and Shi Le feared that they would be attacked if he tries to cross the Yellow River. Once more through Zhang Bin's advice, Shi Le ordered Kong Chang and Zhi Xiong to capture Xiang Bing's ships at Wenshi Crossing (文石津, around present-day Yanji County, Henan) to use them against him. Xiang Bing was captured, and Shi Le continued his advance to Yecheng. Shi Le's attack on Yecheng saw a promising start, but he later shifted his focus and occupied Xiangguo (襄國, in modern Xingtai, Hebei) instead.

Later that year, Shi Le attacked the city of Yuanxiang (苑鄕, in present-day Hebei and Beijing), The Youzhou warlord, Wang Jun sent his general and chieftain of the Xianbei Duan tribe Duan Jilujuan to repel him. Duan laid siege on Shi Le's capital Xiangguo which worried Shi as his generals failed to rout the chieftain. Most of his generals recommend that they wait for them to retreat before attacking, but Kong Chang and Zhang Bin proposed that they carry out a swift and surprise attack on the enemy's prized general, Duan Mopei. Kong Chang led troops against Mopei and retreated back to the city where Mopei was tricked into pursuing and was captured. Duan Jilujuan retreated and Kong struck a successful counter-attack as they fled, ending the siege.

In 313, Kong Chang was sent to capture Dingling (定陵縣) in Yingchuan Commandery which was under Wang Jun. Kong successfully did so and killed the Inspector of Yanzhou, Tian Hui (田徽). Many of the populace of the province under Bao Sheng (薄盛) surrendered to Shi Le soon after.

During Shi Le's siege of Tiancheng (坫城, around present-day Shanxi) in 316, the Inspector of Bingzhou, Liu Kun, sent his recently acquired army under Ji Dan (箕澹) to relief the city. Shi Le made Kong Chang his Vanguard General and Kong greatly routed Ji Dan's army, forcing him to abandon Liu Kun and flee to Dai commandery. Kong Chang pursued Ji Dan and killed him at Dai. Kong Chang's victory caused Liu Kun's army to collapse and prompted his Chief Clerk, Li Hong (李弘) to hand over Bingzhou to Shi Le. Shortly after, Kong Chang campaigned against the bandits Ma Yan (馬嚴) and Feng Zhu (馮䐗) but was recalled after Shi Le decided to wait for their surrender instead.

Between 319 and 321, he participated in the campaign against Duan Pidi and Shao Xu. In 319, Kong Chang conquered all of Pidi's territory in Youzhou, forcing him to join the Jin loyalist Shao Xu at Laoling (樂陵郡; around present-day Yangxin County, Shandong). The next year, he and Shi Hu attacked the exposed Shao Xu at Yanci (厭次, around present-day Dezhou, Shandong) after Pidi decided to pursue Duan Mopei in Jicheng. Kong Chang took 11 of Shao Xu's camps while Shi Hu besieged and later captured Shao Xu. Duan Pidi managed to fight his way back to Yanci, so Kong Chang campaigned against him. However, Kong had been complacent with his recent victories and did not prepare his defences. As a result, he was taken by surprise and driven back by Pidi's brother, Duan Wenyang (段文鴦). His final mention in history comes in 321, during the final assault on Duan Pidi in Yanci where he seized many of his cities. Pidi was finally defeated and captured later that year. Kong Chang would cease to appear in records from this point on.