The Great Wei Music Bureau

The Northern Wei Dynasty was founded by the nomadic Xianbei people in the north. Emperor Xuanwen Tuoba Jun was an idealistic and ambitious monarch who ascended the throne at the age of 14. Before he took power, his mother, Empress Dowager Xiao, ruled the country from behind the scenes and implemented a series of ethnic integration and Central Plains reforms. The reforms involved many aspects, such as accepting advice, rectifying the administration of officials, punishing corruption, attaching importance to farming, reducing taxes and levies, easing penalties, promoting Confucianism, and changing customs.

However, as a princess of Southern Liang and a helpless Empress Dowager Xiao, she would naturally face numerous obstacles when she wanted to implement reforms. Whether it was her former Xianbei subordinates, founding heroes, or those vested interests, they would all resist stubbornly.

In the end, Empress Xiao, with her extraordinary political talent and strong tactics, relied on the four major families close to her to suppress the opposition, integrated the Xianbei military garrison with the Central Plains troops, established a royal guard exclusively for the royal family, and ensured the stability of the regime and the implementation of reforms.

During the reign of Empress Dowager Xiao, Western Chu and Southern Liang launched several northern expeditions, and the Xiongnu further north had always coveted the Central Plains dynasty. In order to ensure peace on the border, Empress Dowager Xiao ordered King Zhenbei Dugu Rong to lead the military and civilians of the six northern Xianbei towns, guard the northern border, reorganize the Xianbei tribes who were unwilling to accept naturalization, and expand the army in the northern border to resist the Xiongnu.

This army was called the Zhenbei Army. It retained the bravery and fighting ability of the Xianbei people and had stronger cavalry than the Xiongnu, so the Northern Wei Dynasty held the initiative in the battle against the Xiongnu.

On the other hand, the southern border was expanded on the basis of the original garrison and renamed Dingnan Army, which was directly under the Ministry of War. The Minister of War was Nangong Ting, who supported the Nangong family among the four families of Empress Dowager Xiao. The Dingnan Army could be said to be the private army of the Nangong family. The Dingnan Army was mainly composed of infantry and was good at defending the city, which stabilized the southern border of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The other two representatives of the four surnames were the prime minister Gongsun Yi and the Minister of Revenue Yuwen Zheng. These four families took advantage of the reform to become the four major families of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Dugu and Nangong families had military power; the Gongsun family controlled political affairs and the appointment and removal of officials below the fourth rank; the Yuwen family controlled the financial power of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The four major families had become the four pillars of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Tuoba Jun took power at the age of 20. Although the transition of power was smooth with the help of his mother, Empress Dowager Xiao, the young and energetic Tuoba Jun launched a new round of reforms in a drastic manner at the beginning of his reign, which eventually led to a rebellion within the Northern Wei Dynasty.

For a time, wars broke out everywhere and people were living in misery. Fortunately, with the full support of Empress Dowager Xiao and the four major families, Tuoba Jun quelled the rebellions in various places in just two years.

Tuoba Jun, who learned from his failures, became more restrained and began to recuperate and focus on people's livelihood. The country gradually got back on track and began to prosper. The Northern Wei Dynasty had become the most powerful among the three kingdoms of Liang, Chu and Wei! Our story takes place in such an era.

Qing'an City is located in the eastern part of the Northern Wei Dynasty. It is a county town under the jurisdiction of Qingzhou. It is a medium-sized town where the protagonist Li Yi lives. Li Yi opened his eyes and looked around. There was no furniture in the room except a bookshelf and a set of tables and chairs. There was a zither hanging on the wall, which looked like no one had moved it for a long time.

Li Yi got up from the bed, sorted out the confused and scattered memories in his mind, rubbed his temples and walked out of the room. This was a small courtyard, the yard of the restaurant owner, where their family and Li Yi lived.

Li Yi can live here because the shopkeeper has a seven-year-old son who is in the enlightenment stage, so Li Yi, in addition to taking care of the restaurant's accounts, also has to teach the child to read and write. The only advantage of working two jobs for one salary is that he doesn't have to live in the restaurant, and he is willing to do so.

When he came to the courtyard, he saw the shopkeeper asking his son what he had learned yesterday. Li Yi stepped forward and saluted, saying, "Good morning, Shopkeeper Sun." The shopkeeper's surname was Sun. He was in his forties and had spent half his life managing the restaurant and this small courtyard. He was afraid that something unexpected might happen to him.

Manager Sun looked at Li Yi and said, "You're awake. Go to the kitchen and find some food. It won't be too late to settle the accounts in the afternoon." What he meant was that he should teach his son in the morning and go to work in the restaurant in the afternoon.

Li Yi sighed in his heart: The evil exploiting class is everywhere! Do I have to be a social slave in this life? I have traveled through time, why do I still have to be a social slave? Why? Forget it, I don’t know what this world is like yet, so I have to bear it for now!

Reluctantly, Li Yi took the son of Shopkeeper Sun to learn to read and write. He found that there were no good teaching materials for the children here, not even Three Character Classic and Rules for Being a Good Pupil and Child. He could only use a book called "The Training of the Sage" to continue teaching. This book is similar to "The Analects of Confucius", which records the words and deeds of three generations of sages Confucius and Mencius and their disciples. However, it is a bit difficult for children who have just started learning.

The whole morning was spent teaching. In his previous life, Li Yi had been a tutor. Although he taught children guitar or sight-singing, with the memories of two lives, teaching a seven-year-old child was not a difficult task. After dinner, Li Yi went to the restaurant and started his daily work according to the memories in his mind. He was busy until the evening. The first day of his time travel passed like this.

Li Yi was in his own room, feeling very depressed. He looked at the zither hanging on the wall, and took it down out of boredom, and began to play. He had learned the guzheng in school in his previous life, and with his fairly good performance skills, coupled with his skilled zither skills in this life, he quickly adapted to the zither, and could play the familiar tunes from his previous life.

Li Yi practiced for a long time until the shopkeeper Sun shouted, "Can't you let me sleep at this late hour?"

Li Yi stopped to rest, but a new idea emerged in his mind: Maybe I can use music to open up the situation, whether it is ancient music or pop music, I have memorized a lot of music scores. After becoming a host, I can be said to be a mobile Chinese music library. Maybe I can become a master of music!

The next day, Li Yi taught the shopkeeper's son Sun Fei to read as usual. During the lesson, Sun Fei suddenly asked, "Mr. Li, were you playing the piano last night?"

Li Yi nodded and said, "Yeah, I haven't played for a long time, and suddenly I felt itchy. How did I disturb you?"

Sun Fei shook his head and said, "No! It sounds very nice! My mother also said that Mr. Li played well! She said that he is worthy of being a scholar and has a lot of sentiment." Li Yi touched the back of his head after hearing this. He always felt weird about being praised by the proprietress.

After lunch, Li Yi walked towards the restaurant. On the way, he saw a lot of people watching something. Based on the principle that a prodigal son who returns is worth more than gold, and a prodigal daughter who returns is worth watching, bah! Based on the principle that the spectators are warm-hearted and don't feel bored when watching the excitement, Li Yi also went over.

The matter was simple. An old lady's clothes were scratched by a vegetable vendor's donkey cart. She could have paid some money to settle the matter. However, the old lady's daughter came and insisted that the vegetable vendor had hit her mother on purpose. She refused to give in and insisted on taking the farmer to the government office, saying that he was committing a crime in the street. This worried the honest farmer so much that he looked like he was about to cry.

The enthusiastic crowd pointed at the mother and daughter, saying things like "shameless" and "crazy because of poverty". The old lady couldn't stand being talked about like that, so she thought about asking for some money.

But her daughter insisted on going to the government, and tried to persuade her mother, saying, "Mom, this time he just scratched your clothes, but next time he will hit you directly! Mom, have you forgotten what happened to your daughter? How do we know if he is a good person or a bad person? Is he sent by those bastards to harm us? Haven't we suffered enough? We can't just let this go, we must report it to the government!"

Li Yi thought: Oh! It turns out that the skill of bumping into someone is used by everyone, no matter where they are! It just sounds like this girl seems to be someone with a story, and she is pretty, but what a pity! You have a story, but I don’t have any wine. After taking a general look, Li Yi went to the restaurant to continue his social life. In the evening, two officials walked into the restaurant, ordered a few side dishes and two pots of wine, and began to chat about what happened in the afternoon.

When Li Yi heard that it was related to the mother and daughter, he had an idea and came over with a plate of wine lees. He smiled and said, "Two officers, look, this is some wine lees left in our shop. If you don't mind, I'll give it to you two."

The two officers looked at Li Yi, then at the plate of wine lees, and said with a smile, "You are quite a good person. Leave it here." After putting the plate aside, Li Yi stepped aside and listened to the two men talking about the mother and daughter.

Officer A asked, "Brother, is there something wrong with that girl who came this afternoon? She only scratched a piece of clothing, why did she have to make a scene in the government office? She even said that she was intentionally committing a crime and hurting someone. Did she think we were too idle and had to find something for us to do?"

Officer B took a sip of wine and waved his hand, saying, "Brother, you have just arrived and I don't know what is going on. Please treat me to a meal! I, as your elder brother, will give you some advice!"

Officer A glanced at him and said with a smile, "Okay, brother, I'm new here, so I should treat you to a meal. I'll treat you this time!"

Officer B smiled as if his evil plan had succeeded and said, "The young lady's name is Ye'er. She was originally an embroiderer who wove cloth and made clothes in the Qingzhou Weaving Bureau. Because she was good-looking, she was favored by the young master Yuwen Ye, who was in charge of the Military Equipment Bureau. He wanted to make her his concubine, but he didn't expect that the young lady was so stubborn that she refused to do it. So she quit her job and returned to our Qing'an City. She sewed some women's personal items and sold them, and made a living by her craft.

Unexpectedly, she was favored by Xu Yuanwai from Qing'an City, who also wanted her to be his concubine, but she still refused. Xu Yuanwai tried many methods but failed to get this young lady, so he resorted to force. This young lady was not a pushover either, and she fought to the death, and finally escaped, and then ran to the government office to report. You also know what kind of person Xu Yuanwai is. Our master didn't want to cause trouble, and there was not enough evidence, so he suppressed the matter and asked Xu Yuanwai to pay some silver, and the matter was over. "

Officer A laughed and said, "I never expected she was such a chaste and virtuous woman!"

"Don't think that this matter is over! Mr. Xu has someone above him, and he is a big shot. Does the Yuwen family know about it? The Yuwen family is one of the four major families in Wei, and they are Mr. Xu's backer!"

"Ah? Is Mr. Xu such a powerful character?"

"That's right, how could such a powerful character swallow such a loss? Not only did he not get any sleep, but he also lost money? Dream on! Mr. Xu found Wang Hu, gave him money, and asked him to deal with Xiao Ye!"

"Wang Hu? The thug that everyone in the south of the city is afraid of?"

"Yes, that's him. He's idle all day long and only does shameful things."

"Oh, it's not easy for this little leaf to survive until now!"

"That's right! Wang Hu went to find Xiao Ye Zi, and when he saw her pretty face, he got lustful and started to touch her. Xiao Ye Zi bit off a piece of his flesh!"

Officer A was stunned when he heard this and confirmed: "Oh, this little Ye Zi is really ruthless!"

"It's not over yet! Let me continue!" Officer B took a sip of wine, ate some wine lees and continued, "After biting off a piece of meat, Xiao Ye came to report to the authorities again. Our master didn't let Wang Hu off. He was beaten with fifty boards and is still in jail!"

"Well, that's good. I heard that Wang Hu has been causing great harm to the people in the south of the city. When I go on patrol, people always ask me how long Wang Hu will be locked up. They are afraid that he will come out and cause harm to people again!"

"Don't worry about that. Wang Hu will be exiled to the army in a few days and won't be able to get out!"

"Oh, that's good."

"Very good? You don't know, Wang Hu has several men. I went to the prison to see Wang Hu, and Wang Hu asked them to find a way to kill Xiao Ye!"

Officer A took a deep breath and said, "No wonder that little girl is making such a fuss. It turns out she was frightened out of her wits!"

"What do you mean by scared out of her wits? She has been through a lot! One night, Wang Hu's men followed her in the dark and stabbed her in the back with a dagger, leaving a bloody hole!"

"What? There's such a thing? Where's the person? Has he been caught?"

"It would be a miracle if he could be caught! There was no one around, he acted in the dark, and he was stabbed in the back. He's lucky to be alive!"

"Then how did she survive?"