After coming to the Tang Dynasty for a long time, Edward's behavior gradually became the same as that of the Tang Dynasty people.
Three months after coming to Datang, Edward often went out alone to do errands, and sometimes went out to hang out by himself.
And because his red hair is so unsightly, Edward now has a bald head.
Well, in fact, this is also the common choice of most of the indigenous people who came to Datang, or were naturalized, or those who were temporary residents of Datang.
How should I put it? A blond and blue-eyed person will always look very weird among a group of people with black hair, dark eyes, and yellow skin. In order to truly integrate into the Tang Dynasty without reminding himself and others all the time,
This is a native.
Therefore, many temporary residents of the Tang Dynasty would choose to shave their heads. Of course, some people in West Asia and Europe also have black hair, so this is okay.
Edward's red hair was more eye-catching. He tolerated it at first, but after a month and a half, he couldn't stand the frequent glances from others and shaved off his red hair.
Although bald heads were not considered normal in the Tang Dynasty, except for monks and soldiers, very few people in the Tang Dynasty would shave their heads. Well, some retired soldiers may continue to shave their heads.
Needless to say, monks, soldiers shave their heads mainly to better care for their wounds and prevent infection after head injuries, which cannot be treated. In addition, after shaving their heads, they don’t have to take care of their long flowing hair, making it easier to fight.
In fact, in the early years, Li Xuan once tried to let the soldiers shave their heads, just like the soldiers of later generations, but he failed.
People would rather shave their heads than shave their heads!
How should I put it? Either don’t shave your head, or shave it all off. You can’t cut off half and leave the other half. This is contrary to the concept of the Tang Dynasty people.
After all, your body, hair, and skin are inherited from your parents and cannot be destroyed easily, so you cannot do things like cutting your hair.
But well, for the sake of the empire, loyalty to the emperor, and even more for the sake of my own life, my hair couldn’t be too long. In the end, I simply shaved it off. It was also borrowing the Buddhist idea of shaving your hair to become a monk and cut off the world of mortals.
It's such a theory.
After joining the army, there won’t be any personal relationships between children, but only repaying the emperor’s favor!
Therefore, basically every soldier of the Tang Dynasty had a bald head, but most of them would grow their hair again after retirement, and within a few years they would have long hair again...
It is said that there was once a shampoo businessman who held a high-end shampoo investment display in a hotel conference room in Songjiang Prefecture, using models for live demonstrations!
The point is, this model is male!
The scene at that time was these male models wearing scholar's gowns and holding folding fans. After taking the stage, they pulled out their hairpins and their waist-length hair flowed down. The scene was enough to make women hide their faces and run away...
Generally speaking, men in the folk still mainly have long hair. Of course, they will definitely not let their hair hang loose on weekdays, but will tie it up.
In addition to long hair, a small number of men have bald heads.
Mainly composed of soldiers, retired soldiers, and workers who often deal with machinery. As for monks, this number can be ignored.
The people of the Tang Dynasty have extremely admired science in recent decades, and at the same time they still retain many Confucian traditions, such as the idea of loyalty to the emperor. After the two are combined, the way of thinking of the people of the contemporary Tang Dynasty is actually very special.
On the one hand, they are still Chinese people in the traditional sense, kneeling down to worship their ancestors and the emperor.
On the other hand, they highly respected modern science and always paid attention to scientific theories, because science made Datang extremely powerful.
In such a special society of the Tang Dynasty, there was actually no room for religion to exist. Regardless of whether it was Buddhism or Taoism, in today's society of the Tang Dynasty, it has evolved more into a religion such as personal cultivation.
There is no such thing as education about loyalty to the emperor in the teachings.
Because if you don’t do this, you won’t be able to survive in the Tang Dynasty.
Why?
Or because of that very clichéd sentence that everyone in the Tang Dynasty knows:
The whole world is not the land of the king, and the shores of the land are not the king’s ministers!
This sentence determines that you are a subject of the Holy Emperor. Even if you want to engage in feudal obsession, you can only kneel to the Holy Emperor!
Moreover, in fact, among Li Xuan's long series of titles, there is the word "God Emperor". The word "God Emperor" is the official explanation for all the emperors of the gods.
So, from this point of view, no matter what religion you create or what gods you create, these gods must still have a boss, and this boss is the Holy Emperor!
So, if you pray to God and worship Buddha, it is better to kneel down and worship the Holy Emperor directly.
However, here comes the problem. The Tang Dynasty officials will definitely not allow those religious people to use the banner of the Holy Emperor!
Therefore, in the end, even if it was Buddhism or Taoism that was officially allowed, it could only be a mess. After a few decades, it became a sect that cultivated individuals and spread the education of loyalty to the emperor.
As for those messy unofficial religions, they have been wiped out long ago.
The Tang Dynasty only needed one god-emperor, not many other messy gods.
Edward, like many people in the Tang Dynasty, no longer believes in any sect and only worships the Holy Emperor.
Because regardless of the gods, none are as powerful as the Holy Emperor, so even if you want to kneel down and worship a certain god, just believe in the Holy Emperor.
Edward, who does not believe in gods but only believes in the Holy Emperor, is now bareheaded, wearing business attire, a round hat, and holding a folding fan. After leaving the embassy area with two friends, he walked along the street to the southeast.
.
They were going to watch the North Shore team's game at a stadium several miles away, and it was hard for him to buy a ticket for the North Shore team's home game.
Ever since he watched a football game played by diplomats in the embassy area two months ago, Edward has been deeply fascinated by this sport full of sunshine and wisdom.
Later, he also joined the football team in the embassy area. They would also hold amateur football competitions every once in a while.
After playing several amateur games, he wanted to go to the stadium many times to watch a real football game.
Unfortunately, the only professional football team in the North Shore Development Zone plays a very competitive game. Only a part of their tickets are available for retail sale, and most of them are sold out in the form of annual tickets.
He tried to buy it several times before but couldn't buy it directly. He could buy it from the second-level dealers, but those second-level dealers were very evil. For an ordinary seat, the original price was only two Tang Yuan, and they dared to ask for ten yuan.
Tang Yuan, they were crazy about money. Although Edward was a nobleman, he was not a nobleman himself. When he came from England, his father only gave him a total of more than one hundred Tang Yuan. This is what he
All assets available.
As a diplomatic attendant, the salary he received was actually very low. It was only the minimum salary standard in Songjiang Prefecture, which was only five Tang Yuan per month, which was not as good as the salary of most ordinary workers.
That is to say, the consulate itself provides food and accommodation at no extra cost, and also provides decent clothes, so this life is quite manageable.
However, if you asked him to buy a second-hand ticket worth ten yuan a piece, he would definitely be reluctant to part with it.
In order to watch the game, he queued up several times to buy it, and finally bought such a ticket three days ago, a regular seat, for two Tang Yuan!
Don’t think it’s too expensive. You have to know that the North Shore Development Zone has a large population and a lot of middle-income skilled workers.
As the only professional step team in the North Shore Development Zone, the North Shore team has always had no shortage of supporters with spending power. Every home game is always full.
The capacity of this stadium has expanded from 5,000 at the beginning to 10,000, and now to 20,000, and is still being expanded. It is said that the North Shore Football Club plans to expand the capacity of the stadium to
Forty thousand people.
The North Shore team, which has many supporters, sells out every venue, and earns a lot of revenue from tickets and other ancillary products, has recruited a lot of players in the past year and is preparing to hit the Royal Football Championship!
This is an event open to all registered professional football teams across the empire. The team needs to advance step by step and finally defeat its competitors to become the only top pick in football.
This is also the highest honor of the step ball competition in the Tang Empire. In the last champion cup final, more than 100,000 people poured into the Jinling Stadium to watch the game, which shows the love and support of the people of the empire for the step ball!
Moreover, every decisive battle will be attended by members of the royal family and dignitaries of the empire, and at the end, members of the royal family will present the trophy to the winner.
Perhaps for other teams, participating in the No. 1 Champion Cup is purely practical. Once they win the championship, the bonuses are very generous. Even if they cannot win the championship, as long as they are ranked high, they will receive a lot of bonuses, or even ranked low, but as long as they can qualify.
If you participate in the national competition, the prize money will still be generous.
But this year, the North Shore team is preparing to attack the Champions League, not for bonuses, they are not short of money.
They do it for honor!
In the entire empire, there are only a few players who can play in a No. 1 pick finals game in front of members of the royal family.
Today's game is a key battle for the North Shore team to compete in the Empire Cup.
Even though Edward has not personally watched even one official match of the North Shore Football Team, it does not prevent him from enthusiastically discussing the important match of the North Shore Team today to qualify for the Champions League with Alec, a friend from the Spanish Consulate who came with him.
.
Alec has obviously watched the game several times and is very familiar with the situation of the North Shore team. He only heard him say: "Last year, when we were trying to qualify for the Eastern Conference, we encountered several strong enemies in a row.
, the last battle was being sniped by those damn West Lake Autobots."
“Although we were lucky to qualify with a small three-point victory in the end, during the battle with West Lake Automobile Team, many players were forced to use foul tactics to kill the enemy and were suspended!”
"That game was so miserable that six players were suspended. As a result, we had to send a large number of substitutes to play in the first few games of the national competition after qualifying, and we ended up disappointed."
"This year we are in the same group again with those bastards from the West Lake Autobots. This time we must make them look good!"
Edward had read many newspapers and done his homework before coming here. He naturally knew that today's game was between the North Shore team and the West Lake Autobots team in Suzhou, and it was the Eastern Division of the No. 1 Cup.
Datang's Football Association divided local teams into five districts based on factors such as distance, transportation, etc., namely, southeast, northwest, and middle.
Each district has a different number of quotas. The Eastern District has more quotas, but there are also many professional teams here, so it is not easy to obtain quotas.
But only by competing for these places can we participate in the subsequent regional competition, then the Jinling finals, and finally the No. 1 Champion Cup finals.
This journey requires passing through many obstacles and is not easy.
Today, they need to defeat the West Lake Autobots first, not only to gain qualifying points, but also to get revenge for last year's battle!
Edward has no feelings about the grievances between these teams. He simply likes football. He can't even be considered a fan of the North Shore team. He should be said to be a football fan.
However, when he entered the stadium with others, listened to the shouts of countless people, and watched the soldiers fighting under the stadium, he couldn't help but join in the shouts of the surrounding North Shore fans.