In the seventh year of Li Qing (1047), his father died, so he had to drop out of school and go back to his hometown to serve his stepmother. Ceng Gong is filial to his parents and friendly to his brothers. After his father died, he served his stepmother in every way, and his family came down, raising four younger brothers and nine younger sisters.
In the second year of Jiayou (1058), Ouyang Xiu presided over the examination, insisting on ancient prose and strategy, supplemented by poetry and prose. At that time, Ceng Gong became the first scholar with his brother Zeng Mou, Ceng Bu and cousin Zeng Fu. In the fourth year of Jiayou in the Northern Song Dynasty (1059), he served as a judicial officer in Taipingfu (now dangtu county, Anhui), and was famous for his familiarity with laws and regulations and proper sentencing.
In the fifth year of Jiayou in the Northern Song Dynasty (1060), Ouyang Xiu recommended him to be a proofreader in the capital, recruiting talents and collating a large number of ancient books, such as Warring States Policy, Shuo Yuan, New Preface, Liang Shu, Chen Shu, Tang Ling, Li Taibai Ji, etc.
In the second year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty (1069), he was a proofreader of A Story of Song Yingzong, and was soon sentenced by Yuezhou (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang). During the famine this year, Ceng Gong posted notices to counties to persuade the rich to truthfully declare their stored grain, and * * * had1500,000 stone, so that they could sell the grain to the people after slightly raising the price of regular warehouses. People can buy food conveniently nearby, but there is more than enough food without leaving their hometown. Ceng Gong also asked the government to lend farmers seeds and let them repay them together with the autumn tax, so as not to delay farming.
After five years of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty (1072), he was successively known as qi zhou, Xiangzhou, Hongzhou, Fuzhou, Mingzhou (Ningbo, Zhejiang) and Bozhou.
Ceng Gong is clean in power, diligent in political affairs and concerned about people's livelihood. He implemented the new law according to Wang Anshi's purpose and actual situation. Committed to rehabilitating unjust imprisonment, maintaining social order, cracking down on strongmen, disaster relief and epidemic prevention, dredging river bridges, setting up post stations, restoring cities, setting up schools, cutting official documents, rectifying official management, and abolishing exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees, it was well received by the masses. Yuanfeng three years in the Northern Song Dynasty (1080) was known as Cangzhou (now Hebei). When passing through Kaifeng, Song Shenzong summoned him. Song Shenzong appreciated his suggestion that "saving is the key to financial management" and stayed in a tertiary hospital.
In the fourth year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty (108 1), the court thought that Ceng Gong's historiography was comparable to a scholar-bureaucrat and was suitable for the history of the Five Dynasties. As a historian, he edited and renovated the courtyard and sentenced Taichang Temple as a ritual.
In April, the fifth year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty (1082), he paid homage to the Chinese calligrapher. Ceng Gong declared that he was old and wanted to choose another talent. There is a book "A Letter to Mr. Scheeren, a self-generated table for Liu Ban", which shows his resignation. In September of the same year, Ceng Gong was killed by his mother, so he was dismissed.
In the sixth year of Yuanfeng in the Northern Song Dynasty (1083), Ceng Gong died in jiangning house (now Nanjing, Jiangsu) at the age of 65. Buried in the right of Nanfengyuan Chongjue Temple.