The weather was getting colder day by day, and the water tank in the courtyard had begun to freeze.
But for Mr. Zhao, who is "bedridden", cold weather is a good thing, because Xishan Coal can sell more coal lotus roots. The longer the winter, the higher the stock price.
It was noon, and he was wearing a navy blue silk nightgown, lying on his back on the warm kang. In an open mahogany box beside him, razors, combs, and brushes were neatly placed on the red velvet lining, as well as small scissors, ear picks, and more than a dozen other exquisite trimming tools.
Sister Ma is cutting his hair.
Later generations took it for granted that "the hair on the body is given by parents and cannot be damaged", so people before the Qing Dynasty did not cut their hair and just tied up their long black and beautiful hair. But if you ask the girls around you, you will know how uncomfortable it is to have thick and dense hair.
Do you know how hard it is to have long hair? In those days, medical conditions were so poor that a cold could kill you. So before the invention of hair dryers, poor families rarely washed their hair. If you didn't get a haircut, wouldn't your head be a den of lice? How could people bear that?
So don't think of the ancients as too rigid. They always had haircuts, but they had a cover-up term called "hair trimming". People who were particular about hair trimming would trim their hair every few months. After choosing a good day, they would ask a hair trimmer to trim their hair. The most common hairstyle was to trim the sideburns and the back of the neck, thin the hair, and cut it short enough to hold a bun.
Because adult men all have their hair tied up in a bun, not even a strand of hair can be left loose, and if you have a lot of hair, it's really hard to tie it up neatly. In fact, a bun is also a hairstyle, and it must be trimmed constantly to keep it neat.
Of course, as a workaround, the hair that has been cut must be collected and not thrown away. Also, the trimmed nails will be kept and taken into the coffin after death. They are considered as the hair and skin of the body, which is given by parents and cannot be damaged.
The Ming Dynasty also had special hair-cleaning clubs that provided people with haircuts and facial cleansing services, as well as ear cleaning, nose hair trimming, eye cleaning, head, neck and shoulder massages, and even hair dyeing...and just like in the future, hair dyeing brought the most income, because women and officials were loyal users of this service.
As an invincible secretary who can warm the bed all the time, Sister Ma has been responsible for Mr. Zhao's haircut for many years. She is very skillful and has already mastered the task, making haircut a kind of enjoyment.
At this time, Zhao Hao's hair had been trimmed. He always asked Sister Ma to cut his hair as short as possible, as long as it could be tied up in a bun. He even considered wearing a fake bun, but that thing would cause prickly heat on the top of his head, and it was not as good as his own hair, so Mr. Zhao had no choice but to keep his hair medium-length.
Sister Ma put down the scraper and carefully put the cut hair into a special jade box bit by bit.
At this moment, Sister Qiaoqiao brought warm water in a copper basin, placed it on a low-legged stool under the kang, and began to wash and massage Zhao Hao's hair. Not to mention, Qiaoqiao's hands were more powerful than Sister Ma's, and the force penetrated the brain, and it was so painful!
After a while, Zhao Hao finished washing his hair and moved on to the next step, which was also the most troublesome stage of drying hair. When Zhao Hao first moved into Caijia Lane, he just shook it and wiped it directly with a cloth, but this was too slow and difficult to dry.
Now the sisters would first squeeze out as much moisture as possible from his hair with their hands, then use cotton cloth to absorb the moisture, and then spread his hair out and wipe it dry with special suede. With the heating in the room, his hair would be kept dry and would not catch a cold.
It takes a long time to comb the hair, at least an hour for the whole process. It is something that only rich people can afford.
Even if he didn't have to do it, Zhao Hao thought it was too much trouble, so he only washed his hair once a day in the summer. In winter, he changed to washing his hair every three days.
Mr. Zhao sat in front of the mirror, Qiaoqiao stood behind him combing his hair, and Secretary Ma began to report to him about what happened in the capital yesterday.
"Cao Daye's impeachment letter was rejected by the cabinet on the grounds of illegal procedures. During this time, Zhang Siwei's letter of apology arrived at the cabinet first, saying that the content of the draft mentioned in the letter was a rumor he heard from his servants and he didn't know whether it was true or not. He just told his uncle and asked him to judge for himself."
"Haha." Zhao Hao couldn't help but laugh, "He really has the temper of a rich young man. It's not his fault whether he lives or dies."
"The more important a person is, the less willing he is to admit his mistakes. Of course, you are an exception." Secretary Ma said with a smile.
"That means I'm not big enough." Zhao Hao smiled evilly and said, "I still need to keep growing."
Secretary Ma pretended not to understand and continued to report: "In addition, the eunuch Chen from the Imperial Household Department also apologized to the emperor earlier, admitting that he was not strict with his subordinates and allowed the young eunuch to leak the emperor's order in advance."
"How does Your Majesty react?" Zhao Hao asked again.
"Of course I chose to forgive him, but he was still determined to leave the Imperial Household Department and wanted to go to the Zhongdu Resident Office." Ma Xianglan replied: "Your Majesty was deeply moved, so he agreed to his request and gave him a generous reward."
"Our Majesty is truly magnanimous." Young Master Zhao sighed and asked, "Have you decided on the next eunuch in charge of ceremonies?"
"It has not been decided yet, but the rumor in the palace is that it has to be Eunuch Feng," said Sister Ma.
"I don't think it's possible." Zhao Hao shook his head and said, "Feng Bao was too impatient. He shouldn't have searched the palace right away. This would cut the Gordian knot and drive Chen Hong out of the palace. But the question is, if Chen Hong leaves, will he definitely take over? I don't think so."
"Young Master, what you mean is..." Secretary Ma's skills in supporting the boss are naturally first-rate. As an excellent secretary, no matter whether the topic is of interest to her or not, as long as the boss is interested, she will show great interest and curiosity to satisfy the boss's desire to perform.
"He moved too quickly, which would make Lord Gao suspicious. Even if he had been waiting for this day, he completed the entire process from getting the news from Lord Yue... Lord Zhang, to convincing the queen to search the palace, and even arresting everyone in less than half a day. The pace is really too fast." Zhao Hao sighed and said:
"It might even implicate Lord Zhang and make Lord Gao suspicious. Could this be a trap they have conspired to set?"
"It's very likely." Secretary Ma nodded in agreement. After all, the idea was from Zhang Juzheng, the matter was done by Feng Bao, and in the end, the scapegoats were Gao Gong's two great helpers inside and outside the court. It would be strange if Gao Gong didn't suspect anything.
"Why don't you remind Eunuch Feng to wait a while before taking action?" she asked softly.
"I don't know the situation in the palace, so I can't make judgments for others. Maybe the opportunity is fleeting, and there may be no chance of success after this opportunity. Sometimes, there is no other way but to choose the lesser of two evils." Zhao Hao said calmly: "Besides, it will be useless to appear too smart. Especially, I am not really smart."
"Sir, you are joking. Is there anyone smarter than you?" Sister Ma said in admiration, "You are the one who can mess up the cabinet and the Imperial Household Department with one hand."
"It's just cheating, it's not a real skill." Zhao Hao told the truth.
But when the two sisters heard this, they thought that the young master was too modest... instead they thought he was even more amazing.
~~
The subsequent development of events did not deviate from Zhao Hao's expectations.
Under the powerful control of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, this serious leak of secrets was easily put down as Zhang Siwei and Chen Hong took the initiative to impeach themselves, with the former resigning and returning to his hometown and the latter being appointed as the eunuch in charge of Zhongdu.
Although Zhao Zhenji and a group of imperial censors questioned that the two men took the initiative to expose themselves in order to cover up for higher-level figures, it no longer caused any waves.
Because the resignation of a promising leader of the Jin Party and a eunuch in charge of ceremonies was enough to satisfy the psychological expectations of the court and the public for the court to punish "negligence" - this is also the reason why he had to surrender first. If he was formally investigated by the Censorate, in the end it would not be as simple as "negligence".
No one joined in the commotion, and the voices of Zhao Zhenji and others became noise that had nothing to do with the overall situation.
In the end, this turmoil only caused the second court meeting to be postponed to the first day of the winter month.
This also forced Zhao Hao's "illness" to continue for another half a month. However, the advantage of this was that he would have more time to complete his father-in-law's task - to help Gao Gelao get four votes of support.
In fact, during one court meeting, there were four officials from Jiangnan who abstained from voting. Zhao Hao could have persuaded them to change their positions. However, considering that this would make Jiangnan appear too monolithic, it would increase Gao Ge Lao's suspicion.
So Zhao Hao decided that it would be better to persuade the nobles in Beijing in a big way. Because everyone knows that the nobles' boss is the emperor, and they will never be loyal to anyone else. So if Mr. Zhao gets their votes, it only means that he is a good lobbyist, and it will not be considered that even the nobles have become his people...
Alas, in this city of Beijing, under the watchful eye of Gao Huzi, I really have to be careful at every step. It’s so frustrating, so frustrating!
In the end, Zhao Hao won the votes of Duke Dingguo and Duke Chengguo through the two directors of Xishan Group, Xu Wenbi and Zhu Shimao.
As for the chairman of the Xishan Group's Supervisory Board, Duke of England Zhang Rong, he was actually willing to defect, after all, the young master had given him too much. But he had previously taken the lead in opposing the tribute, and had jumped up and down too much. If he defected again at this time, he would be scolded to death.
Although the Duke of Ying didn't care, the Xishan Group had to consider its image, so in the end, the son-in-law Xu Congcheng and the Xinjian Earl Wang Zhengyi got the advantage...
After learning that Zhao Hao had finally obtained the four crucial votes at a huge cost, Zhang Juzheng finally felt relieved to inform Gao Gong that there was no need to delay any further and that a second court meeting could be held.
Finally, at the second court meeting on the first day of the winter month, the forty-five voting ministers finally cast twenty votes in favor, twenty votes against, and five abstentions.
According to the rules, when the two sides are deadlocked, they should respectfully ask the emperor to decide who to listen to or to discuss again. Of course, Buzz Buzz chose to listen to Master Gao, so according to Gao Gong's wishes, he approved Wang Chonggu's request for peace, issued an edict to confer Altan the title of Shunyi King, and allowed him to trade with his tribe. Since then, there has been no more war between the Ming Dynasty and the Right Wing of Mongolia, and the long-term threat from Mongolia has been basically eliminated!
It is known in history as "Altan's tribute".