It was the winter of the third year of the war.

After Jiang Shuwan mobilized the country to frantically supply various materials and weapons to the border, the external threat to Dajing was finally quelled.

Jiang Shuwan also quickly received battle reports from the three realms, as well as information on the losses suffered by each side.

In this battle, Pei Yanzhi's position in the western border was the most difficult. In addition to the chaos in the Ye family, there was also an invasion by foreign tribes from the west. He was attacked from both inside and outside, but in the end, he managed to protect his country from foreign invasion.

After acquiring the new weapons, they also expanded the border by thousands of miles.

The Jing Kingdom still exists, but its land is shattered, and its borders are desolate and ruined. Jiang Shuwan convened an emergency meeting and finally discussed with the seven ministers the decision to temporarily keep the three armies from returning.

After all, they have so many wounded soldiers, and the current weather is snow-covered and the border is closed, making travel difficult. It would be better for them to stay where they are for six months to recuperate and help the border people build new homes.

Of course, they continued to transport supplies over there as usual.

Thus, in the summer of the fourth year after the war, the three armies set off back to the capital, and by early autumn, they would soon arrive in Shangjing.

late at night.

It was early autumn weather; the sun was shining brightly during the day, but a light rain at night made people shiver and shrink their necks in the cold.

With the country in dire need of reconstruction, Jiang Shuwan lifted the curfew on her very first day in office.

Now that the Jing Kingdom is in a state of equilibrium and the people have some money in their hands, there is no reason for a curfew. As a result, the entire capital city is still very lively at night.

However, due to the rain, there were far fewer pedestrians on the street.

Especially at midnight, there isn't a single ghost on the street.

The yamen runners patrolling the streets were yawning and getting ready to go back to sleep when they saw the young general of the Zhenguo General's Mansion enter the residence of General Lu Shaogan.

"What is the young general doing at General Lu's residence so late at night?"

"Could it be that he's going to ask the granddaughter-in-law to send his wounded soldiers to the princess's factory again? Didn't they already arrange for a batch before?"

"Strange, the young general previously quelled internal rebellions in various prefectures, and he sought the princess's help early on. Logically, his wounded soldiers should have been taken care of long ago..."

The yamen runners were puzzled, and then they saw the young generals from the other two major generals' mansions enter Lu Shaogan's residence.

They were immediately taken aback.

"With the three generals' mansions all gathered, plus General Lu, this...this...this is probably going to be something big..."

The three generals' mansions, along with Lu Shaogan, now control the entire garrison of the capital. When they meet, the others quickly receive the news.

Then these people quickly arrived at the Lu family's residence, including many ministers and vice ministers from various departments.

Princess's Residence.

The old Marquis and his wife have returned to their hometown, Pei Shushu has gotten married, Pei Yanzhi is on a distant expedition, and there are not many people left in the Marquis's mansion. Jiang Shuwan spends most of her time staying at the Princess's mansion.

The autumn rain was cold, and her hands and feet were freezing. Qingxing brought her a basin of hot water to soak her feet.

"Miss, please stop looking, you'll hurt your eyes."

Qingxing complained, while serving her foot bath and embroidering a purse beside her.

Previously, Jiang Shuwan had gotten into a good time drinking and promised to give her goddaughter (Sun Wanwan's child) a goldfish-shaped purse.

Her young lady had no embroidery skills, so Qingxing took over the task to protect Jiang Shuwan's imposing figure from crumbling.

She wasn't very good at embroidery before, but now she's really improved.

"Okay, I'll watch for a while longer."

Hearing Qingxing's nagging, Jiang Shuwan didn't even look up as she read the gossip news in the Beijing tabloid in her hand.

Because paper prices are cheap, and with the war over and the economy recovering, Jingguo has recently seen a surge in newspaper-like organizations of all kinds.

Among them, the gossip-writing "Shangjing Xiaobao" sold the best, and Jiang Shuwan secretly ordered it as well.

Seeing Jiang Shuwan staring at the newspaper, Qingxing snorted, "What's so interesting about it? It's been months, and the front page is still gossiping about your relationship with the Li royal family."

“Some say you are His Majesty’s (the old emperor’s) illegitimate daughter… others say you are the late emperor’s posthumous child, that’s outrageous! If that were true, you and His Majesty would be siblings…”

"They're really crazy, they'll spread any gossip they can think of."

"Previously, the master (father Jiang) was not convinced and led people to raid several tabloids. Hey, guess what? Not only did they not stop, they became even more outrageous. The key is that the common people also joined in the commotion, saying that your eyebrows and eyes looked just like the late emperor. It's hilarious that they've never even seen the late emperor."

"They're incredibly audacious..."

Putting down the newspaper, Jiang Shuwan also sighed, "Yes, it's too big."

She drew out the last syllable of her words, and Brother Nai, who had been eating sunflower seeds nearby, stood up warily upon hearing her words. "Miss suspects something's wrong?"

Jiang Shuwan nodded.

When the old emperor was alive, she was bestowed with titles and honors and became a princess. Rumors about her being of the Li royal family lineage spread like wildfire.

Later, when she became the Grand Secretary, Da Jing was busy with internal and external affairs and various developments, so she never mentioned this matter again.

For the past six months, some unknown evil wind has been blowing, and both officials and ordinary people are spreading rumors that she is of royal blood.

Especially in the last few months, various tabloids have been spreading gossip about these things. At first, she didn't take it seriously, but as Qingxing said, these people are too bold. It's one thing to spread rumors about the old emperor, and it's one thing to spread rumors about her because she has a good temper, but they even spread rumors about the late emperor.

The late emperor was the supreme hero in the hearts of all the people of the Great Jing Dynasty.

Ordinary people wouldn't dare to gossip about the late emperor, especially not once or twice. Even when her father led a group to raid the newspaper office, they couldn't stop these people's gossipy enthusiasm...

"Was this done intentionally?"

"Well, they really are courting death and don't want to live anymore."

Qingxing said angrily that she did not expect that even though Jiang Shuwan had reached this position, there would still be people who dared to deliberately cause trouble. The little girl rolled up her sleeves and wanted to go and settle accounts with these people, but was stopped by Brother Nai.

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