Zeng Gong, a prominent official, writer, and historian during the Northern Song Dynasty, was also one of the Eight Great Literary Figures of the Tang and Song Dynasties. He served the government with honesty and integrity, was diligent in political affairs, and concerned about the welfare of the people. During his tenure in Hongzhou and Fuzhou, he achieved some remarkable political achievements.
When Zeng Gong was serving in Hongzhou, a plague epidemic was raging in Jiangxi region. He quickly allocated disaster relief supplies and ordered counties and towns to stockpile epidemic prevention medications. Zeng Gong also converted the official residences of the prefecture into temporary shelters, providing free accommodation and medical services to sick soldiers and citizens who were unable to support themselves. He also dispatched personnel to record and summarize the epidemic situation in a timely manner, and allocated funds from the national treasury to distribute relief funds in an orderly manner according to the urgency of the situation. These measures effectively controlled the epidemic and ensured the safety of local citizens.
After transferring to Fuzhou, Zeng Gong put forward an important viewpoint: officials should not compete with the people for profits. The large-scale sale of vegetables by the government disturbed the market, leading to increasingly low vegetable prices and causing significant economic losses to vegetable farmers who depended on farming for their livelihood. To protect the interests of vegetable farmers, Zeng Gong canceled the "official fields" allocated by the court to the government, allowing vegetable farmers to operate independently and reasonably, thus stabilizing local vegetable prices and maintaining the economic order of the society.
Overall, Zeng Gong was a diligent and pragmatic official who focused on practical work and spoke less and did more. During his tenure at the grassroots level, he promptly addressed issues related to the vital interests of the people, doing practical and beneficial things for them. Even after reaching the age of 60, he was still appointed by the court to serve in Mingzhou, Bozhou, Cangzhou and other places, achieving remarkable political achievements wherever he went.
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