A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

That's exactly what happened.

Upon receiving the request from Cui Huan, the eldest son of the Cui family, all the Cui family's disciples and former officials in various places dared not delay. They immediately ordered people to print Yuan Jie's charges overnight, and before dawn, they had already been posted in the streets and alleys of the areas under their jurisdiction.

In any case, Yuan Jie was just from a humble background and posed no threat whatsoever.

Cui Huan may not remember who did things for him, but he will certainly remember who did not.

Cui Huan's friends were also generous in offering their help, which earned him a small but significant favor. The favors of the eldest son of the Cui family of Qinghe were quite valuable.

When Cui Huan received the news, almost all the surrounding provinces of Huainan had already been covered with accusations of Yuan Jie's crimes.

Moreover, this area is expanding outward at an extremely rapid pace, and the people Cui Huan sent to stop it are not keeping up with the speed at which the charges are spreading.

The expansion of Yuan Jie's charges reached Luoyang before Cui Huan's letter could reach him.

Given Yuan Jie's status and position, Cui Huan's order immediately prompted the Cui family in Luoyang to take action.

Even within the Cui family, not everyone knows what's happening in the imperial court.

However, since Cui Huan used the Cui family's manpower, some people would naturally report to Cui Rong.

"Trying to ruin someone's reputation?"

Cui Rong frowned slightly, a bad feeling rising in his heart.

"Who is this person?"

"Yuan Jie, a new Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) from the Ministry of Revenue, comes from a poor family and has no special background."

The Cui family steward spoke with a hint of disdain.

"Yuan Jie?"

Cui Rong was slightly taken aback, then his expression changed drastically!

"What did you do?"

The steward of the Cui family noticed the anger in Cui Rong's tone and quickly recounted how they had publicized Yuan Jie's corruption, bribery, driving people to their deaths, and lining his own pockets.

They hired a large number of children from basements and streets in Luoyang to spread the word, and now, after half a day, it's estimated that everyone in Luoyang knows about it.

After a slight pause, the butler continued, "Master, I don't know why this went so smoothly, it seems as if other forces were secretly helping us."

Cui Rong was so angry that he laughed, and of course, other forces were secretly helping him.

The Cui family was showing signs of becoming the leader of the five clans and seven powerful families. Naturally, the other six clans and other forces in Luoyang City disliked the Cui family and would not let any opportunity to take advantage of their misfortune and disgust them pass by.

Let's give this opportunity a push, and when Yuan Jie's reputation is restored to its former glory, then we'll have something to watch.

Once the Cui family's slander against Yuan Jie is exposed, their reputation will definitely decline significantly, which is something many other forces would be happy to see.

"You bastard!"

Cui Rong roared, startling the steward, "Besides Luoyang, where else is this being done?"

Cui Rong, as expected of the head of the Cui family, has experienced many ups and downs and was able to quickly calm down and think about the matter after such a terrible incident.

Based on the speed at which the message was transmitted, he had already figured out what was going on.

This probably happened before Cui Huan received his letter.

But he didn't know which places Cui Huan had sent the letters to. He just hoped that Cui Huan had only sent them in the capital, so as to tarnish Yuan Jie's reputation in the capital and prevent him from being promoted.

"The young master has already issued orders in various places, and nearly 10 provinces have begun to take action."

The butler realized something was wrong and quickly reported it to Cui Rong.

10 dishes!

Dozens of states!

It's probably spread throughout the entire Jiangnan region by now!

And this rate is still expanding!

"Immediately issue my order: suppress the news! We can't let it escalate any further!"

"Especially in the capital, all available resources were mobilized to suppress the news."

"I will use the Cui family's resources to arrange for a steam train to be used specifically to deliver this message."

"Get that good-for-nothing Cui Huan back to the capital!"

Cui Rong made the order decisively, demonstrating the courage and determination befitting the head of the Cui family, who had maintained the family's leading position among the five surnames and seven prominent clans.

Many factions felt it was a pity to see the Cui family's decisiveness.

The slower the Cui family acts, the longer things escalate, and the bigger the jokes they can make.

Seeing that things were hopeless, they stopped spreading rumors about Yuan Jie and gave up.

No one wanted to be the first to stick their neck out and incur the wrath of the now furious Cui family, who were determined to retaliate.

Of course, they did not give up completely. Instead, they used their most covert forces to spread the story of what Yuan Jie had done in order to salvage his reputation.

They should at least disgust the Cui family one more time.

After the Cui family noticed this, they also ordered people to investigate. In order to avoid being targeted by the enraged Cui family, each family used the most secretive forces. The Cui family only found some white gloves, and after angrily eliminating them, it had no other effect.

As the Cui family stopped spreading rumors about Yuan Jie, news about Yuan Jie being exonerated began to emerge in various places.

Previously, a large number of students from various places had vehemently criticized and publicly attacked Yuan Jie.

Especially those students from poor families felt that Yuan Jie had betrayed their original aspirations and found him extremely despicable.

Now that they've suddenly discovered Yuan Jie was wronged, this group is in an awkward position.

But modern scholars have their own integrity; they are brave enough to admit their mistakes.

He publicly apologized to Yuan Jie and went from criticizing Yuan Jie to praising him, extolling Yuan Jie's selfless spirit.

It's as if the more they praise themselves, the smaller the mistakes they made in the past will seem.

Influenced by this trend, Yuan Jie's reputation spread far and wide.

Even abroad, Yuan Jie's reputation has been heard in many places, and he has gained a lot of fans.

Yuan Jie later went to the Cui family to thank Cui Huan. Without Cui Huan's intervention, his actions might have caused a temporary stir, but they would have been insignificant.

Cui Huan's act of selflessness is commendable and deserves Yuan Jie's personal gratitude.

Cui Huan was so disgusted by Yuan Jie's visit to express his gratitude that he fell seriously ill, but that's another story.

……

Yuan Jie finally had enough food for disaster relief and began to act decisively, eliminating any attempts to withhold money or food.

At the same time, they began to secretly investigate the destruction of granaries and the burning of Changping granaries in various places.

In a dark room in Yangzhou, several people who looked very wealthy sat.

Suddenly a voice rang out, breaking the silence in the room.

"Which imperial envoy has already begun investigating the Ever-Normal Granary? Let's discuss how we should respond to this matter."

Judging from the aged voice, the speaker must be quite old, at least seventy years old.

It's not hard to tell from his words that the burning of the Changping granary was related to the people inside the house.