"Ah, ha ha ha~~~, Meiniang is truly my lucky star. To be able to marry you is truly the good fortune I've accumulated over eight lifetimes!"
Li Shimin's face revealed a hint of pleasant surprise, and he laughed heartily, saying,
"Not bad, that's exactly the point. In the future, if one wants to cultivate immortality, they must become the loyal servants of my Great Tang Imperial Family, just like how those from humble backgrounds who wish to study and become officials must become the lackeys of the Five Surnames and Seven Lineages. Hahahaha~
With this, my Great Tang will not only not decline, but will instead become even more prosperous."
The anxiety in his heart completely vanished, and his entire being became relaxed, as if he saw the flourishing and prosperous scene of the Great Tang, with all nations coming to pay tribute.
However, a moment later, Li Shimin suddenly realized a serious problem and asked with a slight frown, "Meiniang, what if these immortal cultivation scriptures are stolen by others?"
He knew very well in his heart that once knowledge and scriptures were leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable.
If they were obtained by someone with ulterior motives even once due to a moment of carelessness, the Five Surnames and Seven Lineages could quickly grasp all the content.
Li Shimin's mood once again became heavy, and his originally relaxed expression turned extremely solemn.
"Your Majesty, what do you think immortal cultivation is? If it could be easily stolen, Big Brother wouldn't be worthy of controlling over a dozen worlds!"
Wu Meiniang's tone carried a hint of dissatisfaction. She looked at Li Shimin, her eyes flickering with unhappiness. She felt as if she had been underestimated.
So, she began to tell Li Shimin about the Golden Book and Jade Slip, as well as other knowledge related to cultivation.
The two began to converse, with the topic revolving around immortal cultivation, and it became unstoppable.
The two chatted for a long time, during which most of the time Li Shimin would suddenly raise some potential loopholes and dangers.
It must be admitted that, as an emperor, he indeed had unique insights into being prepared for danger in times of peace.
Many rule loopholes that even Xiao had not thought of were keenly detected by Li Shimin.
Not only that, through the loopholes discovered by Li Shimin, Wu Meiniang actually found that some Cyber Cultivators were already using these loopholes to make money.
Wu Meiniang immediately became furious, her eyebrows furrowed in anger. She unhesitatingly modified these loophole rules and meticulously designed an early warning device in the Cyber Dimension.
This device could keenly detect abnormal situations in the flow of spiritual energy. Once it discovered that a certain existence suddenly had a huge amount of wealth, it would immediately trigger an alarm and be subjected to the scrutiny and supervision of the Cyber Dimension.
If a loophole was found, a thunderous strike would be immediately delivered to ensure that no one could easily exploit loopholes and gain power easily.
And the patching of the loopholes not only brought about the further improvement of the immortal cultivation rules, but also caused the Cyber Cultivators in several worlds who had discovered and used these loopholes to make a fortune to wail in despair, regretting that they had not exploited the Cyber Dimension more because they feared punishment.
"Although Li Erfeng lacks sufficient foresight, he is truly amazing in terms of setting rules. He truly lives up to his reputation as the founder of the Reign of Zhenguan and indeed has unique insights!"
Xiao, who was enjoying music at a brothel, naturally also noticed some subtle changes in the rules of the Cyber Dimension. He quickly learned the cause and effect of the matter through Wu Meiniang and praised him without stinginess.
In fact, it wasn't that no one from their side had discovered such loopholes; in fact, a considerable number of loopholes were discovered by internal personnel. However, unfortunately, when it came to exploiting the boss, no one was willing to bring it up and correct it.
After all, exposing them wouldn't benefit them, whereas rapidly developing by utilizing the loopholes was the way to go.
"Set up some reward and punishment mechanisms as well!"
Xiao reminded Wu Meiniang.
"Tell them that if similar incidents happen again next time, it won't be as simple as just fixing the loopholes, but rather, they will be held accountable to the end."
Wu Meiniang nodded, indicating that she understood.
She knew this even without Xiao's reminder. Previously, Xiao hadn't paid much attention to this aspect, but now that a problem had been discovered, it naturally needed to be resolved.
The arrival of the black sun caused a huge uproar throughout the entire world. Many common people felt that this was a sign from heaven.
The court officials all began to criticize the emperor, believing that the emperor must have done something wrong.
After all, Li Shimin's ascension to the throne was not legitimate; killing his brother, imprisoning his father, and marrying his sister-in-law were the biggest stains on his life. Whenever there was a natural disaster or man-made calamity, the censors would lash out at Li Shimin.
Li Shimin had long been accustomed to this. He just treated their words as nonsense: you can criticize all you want, I'll do what I do, mainly focusing on not affecting each other.
Furthermore, Confucian scholars and the Imperial Prince faction took the opportunity to stir up trouble, believing that the appearance of the black sun was due to the industrial revolution brought by Wu Meiniang, which had angered Heaven.
They demanded that the emperor depose the empress, that the Great Tang de-industrialize, abandon the Hundred Schools of Thought, restore Confucian orthodoxy, re-establish the Mandate of Heaven, return to a natural state, and beg for Heaven's forgiveness.
However, Li Shimin did not indulge this group of rigid Confucians at all. He directly ordered them to be dragged out, and even the officials who brought them were punished with half a year's salary.
As for the matter of deposing the empress, everyone knew what was going on and no one even mentioned it. After all, many people present were Wu Meiniang's business partners.
Many military officials had actually secretly sided with the legitimate imperial prince, Li Hong. After all, the current emperor was only in his forties.
According to the age of the Retired Emperor, as long as Li Shimin did not die suddenly, he could at least live until Li Hong grew up, and with the support of the Empress and the military officials, it would be enough to help Imperial Prince Li Hong ascend to the throne.
If the emperor were to actually depose the empress, the first to suffer would be them.
Therefore, everyone present expressed support for Li Shimin's actions, and even the aristocratic families, who usually liked to sing a different tune, stood by coldly, growing increasingly dissatisfied with these rigid Confucians.
Laziness is one of the ladders of civilization's progress. De-industrialization, making them return to nature, would simply be taking their lives!
Because who doesn't know that although these rigid Confucians always outwardly disparaged these "tricky and ingenious skills," they secretly enjoyed the convenience these things brought.
These rigid Confucians, while outwardly claiming the Mandate of Heaven, harbored ulterior motives.
The reason they acted this way was simply due to the suppression by the Empress and the impact of the industrialization process.
In recent years, the status of Confucianism had gradually declined, and its discourse power in the imperial court had also decreased daily. Even the content of the imperial examinations had shifted from Confucian classics to the knowledge of the Hundred Schools.
They felt uneasy; if they didn't frequently make their presence felt, they feared they would be forgotten by His Majesty.
And if they could fortunately guess His Majesty's thoughts, arouse his attention to Confucianism, and re-employ Confucian scholars, that would truly be a huge gain.
As for their demand to depose the empress, this was actually a form of quid pro quo.
The Imperial Prince faction brought them into the palace, and they, in turn, had to speak for the imperial princes.
So, who exactly was the Imperial Prince faction?
Naturally, they were the legitimate sons of Empress Changsun Wende.
These imperial princes, who had once been locked in endless struggles, began to unite in the face of the immense pressure brought by Wu Meiniang in recent years, jointly confronting this skillful young stepmother who was even younger than them.
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