After the emperor read her mind, the salted fish concubine effortlessly won the title of empress.

Chapter 368 The Crown Prince

Shen Shixi caught him and praised, "Dongjun performed really well today, he was amazing, it's this one!"

She gave her son a thumbs up.

Xihe also came over, pushed her younger brother aside, squeezed in herself, and looked at her mother expectantly, as if to say, "You have to praise me too."

Dongjun was furious. He immediately reached out to his sister and pushed her aside, wanting to squeeze into his mother's arms. The two were about to fight, and a major battle was about to break out.

Shen Shixi had a bump on her forehead.

"Xihe is great, Dongjun is great, you are both great!" Shen Shixi quickly praised, hugging one child on each side and separating them.

After the parents finished paying their respects, the next step should be for the crown prince to receive the kneeling obeisance of his brothers.

However, Shen Shixi suggested that this formality should be postponed until the Crown Prince turns sixteen. Right now, she didn't want to create a chasm between her son and his brothers so soon, and she hoped that her son could live a normal life before he turned sixteen.

However, when the princes were to pay their respects to the Empress, the Second Prince led them, and the Second Prince also read the blessings. Shen Shixi held the Crown Prince, which meant that the Crown Prince also received the respect from his elder brothers.

"Rise!"

Next, civil and military officials presented congratulatory memorials to the Crown Prince. The Eastern Palace did not yet have a formal staff, and the personnel were all temporarily appointed. Officials from the Ministry of Rites carried the congratulatory memorials over and placed them on the large table.

The crown prince sat upright on his throne for a while, then, seeing all the things that had been brought in, he wanted to look at them but couldn't reach them, so he called out to Li Fude, "Eunuch!"

Li Fude quickly handed him one, and he pretended to unfold it and look at it.

Although I don't recognize a single word.

The officials were overjoyed. Good heavens, their crown prince was only a little over a year old, yet he was already looking at the congratulatory memorial.

Only Li Fude, who was close by, glanced at it and realized, "Oh, the Crown Prince is holding the congratulatory letter upside down!"

They're quite good at intimidating people.

As he watched, he even crossed his legs, and then, for some reason, started laughing.

"Your Highness, Your Highness!" Li Fude whispered, taking his little foot and putting it down.

The crown prince did not insist.

After watching one, he would switch to another.

Li Fude had no choice but to give him another one.

After seeing three officials still kneeling, Li Fude reminded them again, "Your Highness, it's time to begin!"

Because "免礼" (miǎn lǐ) consists of two characters, which the Crown Prince did not yet know.

"Rise!" The prince readily agreed.

The officials could finally rise.

So why bother with a one-year-old child's investiture ceremony? It's exhausting.

There was originally a "reading the letter" ceremony, which meant that the letter was taken and the person knelt in the hall to read it aloud, and the official who unfolded the letter also knelt down to unfold it. The key point was that the crown prince could not understand it, so one or two representatives were chosen to read the shorter ones to the crown prince, which was considered to have completed the entire ceremony.

Fortunately, the crown prince was able to read it himself.

This whole affair was finally over without any major incident, and the ladies of the court and the nobility knelt before the Empress.

This whole process is extremely complicated.

Afterwards, the emperor and empress held a grand banquet for their guests.

After all, the officials and their wives had spent most of the day kneeling and paying their respects, going back and forth, and were exhausted. They couldn't be allowed to go back on an empty stomach.

Afterwards, they will pay homage to their ancestors, which will be arranged for next year. The ceremony will be extremely complicated and the pomp and circumstance will be very extravagant. It is also taken into consideration that the crown prince is still young and cannot be subjected to such turmoil for several days.

After this trip, the couple were both exhausted.

Inside the Court of State Ceremonial, the Wolf King of the Northern Sands and several close envoys were drinking milk tea and chatting. "What did you think of the Crown Prince of Great Zhou's performance today?"

Several close advisors remained silent.

You look at me, I look at you.

"Speak!"

The new Left Wise King said, "Although the Crown Prince is only a little over a year old, his courage is remarkable! He showed no fear in such a grand occasion today, which is quite impressive. Once he grows up, he will become a great ruler no less than his father, which is truly terrifying!"

The Wolf King of the Northern Sands chuckled, both excited and full of anticipation, clearly acknowledging the words. "As expected of her son, he possesses extraordinary bearing. To have such talent at such a young age, I truly envy the Emperor of the Great Zhou!"

The Left Wise King comforted him, saying, "The Khan's princes are all outstanding, and besides, this child is still young, and the future is uncertain. Don't the Han people have a story called 'The Tragedy of Zhongyong'?"

This means that a child prodigy may not necessarily achieve greatness as an adult.

No one agreed with him, which clearly meant that no one else thought the same way.

This child is clearly very powerful. Although his appearance is exactly like that of the Emperor of the Great Zhou, his demeanor and expression are very much like that of the Empress of the Great Zhou, especially his wicked look. If such a person controls the Great Zhou, he will surely become a formidable enemy of the Northern Sands in the future.

The Great Zhou Emperor had little ambition, yet this child was not even afraid of the wolf king, and even called him a "dog." At that moment, a glint of cunning shone in the child's eyes, which made one wonder.

Another envoy asked, "What are the Great Khan's plans? I saw it today; the Great Zhou Emperor always wears those two items on his wrist. Moreover, we have inquired very clearly that those weapons were made by the Great Zhou Empress herself."

The parts she always had prepared were very scattered, and there were several similar types of each. The blueprints were destroyed on the spot; they were top secret, and it would be very difficult to obtain them.

The Wolf King of Beisha said, "When we fought Yang Shougui last time, his army's weapons had not been updated. However, before that, when the Emperor of the Great Zhou personally led the expedition, the weapons of the Xuanjia Army and the Tianfei Pass garrison were considered divine weapons."

The iron-smelting technology of the Great Zhou Dynasty is said to have been completely revolutionized, also thanks to the Empress of Great Zhou. Once her son ascends the throne, the strength of Great Zhou will far surpass that of our Northern Sands. We cannot afford to be complacent about this.

Shen Shixi may not give all the good things to Li Yuanke, but he will definitely teach them all to his son. Moreover, they now have an internal enemy.

He fell for Sarilang's trick, failing to kill Sukhbaatar. Instead, he lured Sukhbaatar back to Beisha, and with the support of the Great Zhou, Sukhbaatar is now a rival to him.

This is not some kind of scabies, but a serious illness that grows in the internal organs and can be fatal.

That woman, Sarilang, should never have been allowed to escape in the first place.

The delegation from Xiling was also discussing this matter.

Yelü Yuanguang said, "I fought against the Emperor of Great Zhou more than ten years ago. He was quite talented on the battlefield. At that time, I was very regretful that the future Emperor of Great Zhou would not entrust military power to such a promising talent."

Interestingly, he actually became emperor. However, his son was clearly more suited to be a monarch; at such a young age, he possessed extraordinary courage and was clearly exceptionally intelligent.

One of the envoys from Xiling had met the Empress and said, "The Crown Prince of Great Zhou looks like the Emperor of Great Zhou, but his demeanor and intelligence are very similar to those of the Empress of Great Zhou. He will surely be an extraordinary monarch in the future."

If that's the case, I'm truly worried!

"Yes! The Emperor of Great Zhou has no ambition for expansion, and the Empress of Great Zhou is said to love the people like her own children, so she naturally does not want to start any bloodshed or conflict. But this Crown Prince, who knows what the future holds? He doesn't look like a good person at all."

"Yes, he actually provoked the wolf king at the ceremony today, calling the wolf king a dog."