Ceng Gong's dynasty can be known from his birth time. Ceng Gong was born in the Northern Song Dynasty in 119. However, after 1927, the Northern Song Dynasty was overthrown and entered the Southern Song Dynasty, so strictly speaking, Ceng Gong can only be said to be a native of the Song Dynasty. Ceng Gong's main achievement is writing, but he can also write poems. Poems like West Building, South of the City, Chanting Willow, etc. It can be called a masterpiece of landscape lyric poetry in modern poetry in Song Dynasty. As far as the Eight Masters are concerned, Ceng Gong's poems are not as good as those of Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu, Wang Anshi and Su Shi, but better than those of Su Xun and Su Zhe.
Ceng Gong enjoyed a high reputation for his academic and articles before his death. Zhu was a master among the ancient writers in the Northern Song Dynasty. Zeng was able to achieve such a high achievement in poetry because he was also an active participant in the poetry reform movement in the Northern Song Dynasty and an important backbone of the new ancient prose movement in the Song Dynasty. As an active follower and supporter of Ouyang Xiu, he accepted almost all of Ouyang Xiu's thoughts on the creation of ancient prose, and also advocated "Tao first, then prose" in theory. But more attention is paid to pottery than Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu. In the theory of ancient Chinese prose, it advocates taking Tao as a text, advocating the unity of literature and Taoism, and advocating that "writing is Ming Dow".
The Story of Ceng Gong
There are many stories about Ceng Gong. In 171, Ceng Gong was transferred to Jizhou. As a local leader, Ceng Gong knew that responsibility was more important than Mount Tai. Since ancient times, Qilu has been famous for its honest folk customs, and Ceng Gong, the city of the year, is certainly not so good. He was clearly aware of its thorny problems and decided to crack down on strongmen and establish his prestige.
At that time, the rich man surnamed Zhou, whose son was extremely rich and heartless, ran amok in the village, causing great public outrage. However, the Zhou family is a rich and powerful family, and officials from all over the country collude with it, so the people dare not tell. At the beginning of collecting evidence in Ceng Gong, Zhou Gao was quickly brought to justice, and the people applauded. In Zhangqiu, there are a group of local tyrants called "overlord society" who rob the people and do all kinds of evil. Ceng Gong sent troops to catch them all, uprooted the criminal gangs in one fell swoop, sentenced 31 criminals and escorted them to the frontier. He also initiated the law of "protecting Wu", that is, taking five households as one guarantee, supervising entry and exit, and implementing the registration of foreign population. If someone has thieves at home, they will beat the drums and ask others for help. Through the governance of Ceng Gong, crimes in qi zhou have been significantly reduced, and theft and robbery rarely occur. From a state of frequent public security cases to a state of peace, the atmosphere is clear.
In fact, Ceng Gong's achievements in qi zhou are far more than that. For example, he promoted Wang Anshi's new law to stimulate agricultural production; The construction of Zhouqi North Watergate has solved the flood problem that has plagued qi zhou for many years. Daming Lake has been dredged and is now a famous scenic spot in Jinan. Wait a minute. In order to commemorate Ceng Gong's great contribution to qi zhou, later generations built Zenggong Temple in Qianfo Mountain and Nanfeng Temple in Daming Lake.
Ceng Gong's masterpiece
In addition to being a famous minister in the Northern Song Dynasty, Ceng Gong has a more resounding name, that is, he is one of the eight masters in the Tang and Song Dynasties. With Su Shi, Wang Anshi, Ouyang Xiu, Han Yu and others, he is known as the "South Wind Master" in the world. Therefore, Ceng Gong also has high attainments in literature. Besides compiling books and sorting out ancient books in the court, Ceng Gong also wrote many excellent articles. He was an outstanding essayist and historian in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Ceng Gong's rhetoric is simple, but his narrative is witty and circuitous, and his article looks like a mature one. Although Ceng Gong is not good at writing landscapes, he is good at narrating. Ceng Gong's representative works include: Awakening the Heart Pavilion, Traveling to the Mountain and other articles that show his narrative structure. Of course, there are also works like Daoshan Pavilion, such as Mo Chi Ji and Yue Zhou Zhao Gong Disaster Relief Ji, all of which are extraordinary works combining narrative and scenery writing.
In addition, Ceng Gong's argumentative essays are also well written. The preface to the catalogue of the Tang Dynasty and the Warring States Policy is also Ceng Gong's masterpiece. These articles have clear arguments, unparalleled eloquence and great momentum, and are very good argumentative papers. Ceng Gong's letter to Ouyang Sheren and his ruling letter to Fuzhou have always been regarded as the scope of letters, with rigorous structure, skillful narration and euphemistic words, which are highly praised by future generations. In addition to these articles, Ceng Gong's articles Yuan Feng's manuscripts and Longping's collections are handed down from generation to generation. Ceng Gong's articles are generally practical articles such as historical biography and strategic theory, which should be related to his years of compiling historical books and ancient books in the imperial court. As an active participant in the poetry innovation movement in the Northern Song Dynasty, Ceng Gong can be said to be the core force of the new ancient prose movement in the Song Dynasty.