| Kuai Liang | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 蒯良 | ||
| Simplified Chinese | 蒯良 | ||
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Kuai Liang, style name Zirou (子柔), was an advisor to the warlord Liu Biao during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He was a native of Zhonglu, Nan Commandery (present-day Nanzhang County, Hubei). He had a younger brother, Kuai Yue.
In 190, Liu Biao succeeded Wang Rui (王睿) as Inspector (刺史) of Jing Province (covering present-day Hubei and Hunan), and he sought good policies on governing the province. He paid a visit to Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue, asking, "At present, bandits are rampant and the people are not loyal to the government, while Yuan Shu of Nanyang is planning his moves, it's hard to restore order to the current chaotic situation. I intend to recruit soldiers from among the civilian population, but I'm worried that they might not wish to join the army. Do you have any ideas to solve this problem?" Kuai Liang replied, "The reason why the people are not loyal to the government is that officials do not show enough care and concern towards them. If the people are loyal to the government, and yet the government is still weak, that's because officials do not perform sufficient righteous deeds. If officials can govern by benevolence and justice, the people's loyalty to them will be like the flow of water from higher to lower ground. Why do you need to worry and ask for a plan to conscript civilians?"
Kuai Liang was then appointed by Liu Biao as his Registrar (主簿). His death year was not recorded in Records of Three Kingdoms, but historians believe that he died before the Battle of Red Cliffs because his name was not found in a list of officials from Jing Province who were rewarded by Cao Cao.
In Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Kuai Liang was the one who came up with a plan to defeat Sun Jian at the Battle of Xiangyang in 191. He suggested to Huang Zu to retreat and lure Sun Jian to Mount Xian (峴山), where Sun Jian was killed by Huang Zu's archers lying in ambush.