After Xia Xue gained a firm foothold in Changxi, Funing, she began to expand to the surrounding villages and counties.

"It's better to sit than to get up and walk."

Xia Xue is an idle actioner, and she likes to take Li Jing and his party around when she has nothing to do, looking for opportunities.

For many days, the wind was beautiful, and every morning there was a thin layer of frost.

Outside, in the sun, warm, this warmth combined with the slight chill of the morning, the air is fresh, cool and pleasant, making people feel extra pleasant.

On everything, near and far, there is a mysterious, clear light that can only be seen in the autumn and winter seasons of this period.

On this day, when Xia Xue, Li Jing, the Red Whisker, the bearded guest, and the Ouyang brothers and sisters walked to Changle, Fujian, they found that a small village had gathered a lot of people, and more than 100 officers and soldiers of the Sui Dynasty were pressing five prisoners, and they were holding a public judgment meeting under a big tree in the village. Thousands of people from the village and surrounding areas gathered around, most of them She people.

The She people were called by the Sui Dynasty: "Barbarians", "Barbarians" or "Bannermen", and have their own language, She, which belongs to the Miao Yao language group of the Sino-Tibetan language family, but has no own script, and mostly lives in mountainous and semi-mountainous areas. The She ethnic group mainly focuses on agricultural production, supplemented by hunting economy. The agricultural production of the ancestors of the She nationality was mainly "ploughing and burning fields", that is, "slash and burn farming", and most of the land they cultivated belonged to dry land lacking water sources. Due to extensive farming, low productivity levels, low crop yields, and long-term living in deep mountains and old forests and wild beast-infested places, the hunting economy has always been relatively developed. The places with better natural conditions in Fujian have been cultivated by the nobles and landlords of the Sui Dynasty. Therefore, they can only open up mountains and mountains, open up fields, and build new homes. Or tenant the land of the aristocratic landlords, or give them long-term labor. In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, in order to raise war materials, the government and nobles continued to increase the tax burden, deepened the exploitation and oppression of the She people, and also implemented a series of ethnic discrimination policies, treating them as "foreign people" and barbarians, and did not allow them to serve as officials and soldiers, but only drove them as slaves.

The officers and soldiers were headed by a short, stocky, forty-year-old county magistrate, whose appearance can be summed up in one word - "round": the whole body is round, the head is completely round, the back, chest, shoulders, and even his hands, which are ready to hold something, are round. He stared at the five prisoners kneeling on the ground with round eyes and said loudly: "I am the commander of Changle County, and these five She people not only refuse to pay taxes, but also take the lead in inciting more than 500 people from the same party to gather to make trouble and plot against them. I have taken all of them, and more than 500 of my comrades will then be sent to Lingnan to serve hard labor, and these first offenders will be beheaded today according to the law of the Great Sui, and they must take this as a warning and not confront the government! ”

After speaking, he ordered several executioners who were armed with ghost-headed broadswords, "The hour has come, verify the correct body, and execute immediately!" ”

Several executioners, armed with large knives, walked behind the prisoners and prepared for execution. The surrounding onlookers were in an uproar, many adults quickly blindfolded their children's eyes, and many women lowered their heads in fright and did not dare to look. There were also many whining cries from the crowd.

When Xia Xue saw it, she glanced at Li Jing, the bearded guest, the red whisk girl, and the Ouyang brothers and sisters, and they nodded knowingly.

Just as the executioner raised the ghost-headed broadsword in his hand and was about to behead, he suddenly heard a few bowstrings sound, and several executioners fell to the ground one after another. Ouyang Yong later asked Li Jing to guide archery when he had nothing to do in Changxi Village, and his archery level was greatly improved compared to before, making up for his previous shortcomings in archery. This time, he opened his bow and arrows, and killed an executioner with one arrow, and he danced with excitement.

This sudden change made Humpty Dumpty County Ling shocked, and before he could react, he saw a few figures flashing, and he already had a long knife with cold light on his neck. "Don't move, let your men put their weapons down, or your head will move in no time." Xia Xue said coldly to the county order.

"Ah, the young man spares his life, the young man spares his life!" The county commander's face was pale, and his body shivered like chaff, and he was in a state of urine. The smell hit, and I was so scared that I peed my pants. He trembled and hurriedly shouted at his officers and soldiers: "Hurry up! Lay down your arms all! ”

Seeing the commander's order, the officers and soldiers under his command had to throw down their weapons one after another and retreat to the side.

Xia Xue asked Li Jing to step forward and release the five She prisoners, and the tattered She prisoners escaped from death and wept with gratitude, and hurriedly came over to kneel down to thank Xia Xue and them, and begged to rescue the more than 500 "Shanha" brothers who were still locked up in the county cell. The She people call themselves "Shanha", and "Shanha" means "guests in the mountains".

They reported their names, and it turned out that these five people were called: Panlong, Lanying, Lei Bao, Lei Hu, and Zhong Tao, all of whom were warriors of the She nationality, and their ages were basically around 20 years old. They explained to Xia Xue that the government is now exploiting the people of the She nationality more and more, and the people of the She nationality can no longer survive, so they have to gather people to fight against the Sui Dynasty government, but due to the backward weapons and equipment, coupled with poor command, they fell into the treacherous scheme of the Tian County Order of Changle County and were wiped out by the government. Thousands of people of the She ethnic group who were watching around knelt down to Xia Xue, begging to save their relatives from their prison cells in the county seat, and expressed their willingness to follow her.

Xia Xue saw that this was an opportunity to increase her strength, so she agreed without hesitation. The county seat of Changle is larger than the county seat of Changxi, and there are more officers and soldiers of the Sui Dynasty defending it than the county seat of Changxi, so it is not suitable for a strong attack. She asked Panlong and other five She warriors to select a hundred strong young men from the tribe, take off the clothes of the officers and soldiers and put them on, take their weapons, and press this Tianxian order to set off to Changle County. The captured officers and soldiers were temporarily tied up and handed over to the care of the villagers.

The sun had long since set, and there were several bright stars twinkling in the sky; A full moon had just risen, the sky was blazing red, and a huge red ball shook amazingly in the gray twilight, gradually brightening, and the dusk was over, however, night, had not yet come.

At this time, they arrived at the downstairs of the county seat of Changle County, and the city gate was closed. Xia Xue put a dagger on the waist of Tian Xianling: "Call to open the city gate." Be honest, or you know the consequences! ”

Tian Xian Ling felt the coldness coming from the tip of the knife piercing his clothes, his face turned pale with fright, and cold sweat broke out, he shrank forward, and shouted to the city tremblingly: "Open the city gate quickly, the official is back!" ”

When the officers and soldiers in the city saw that it was the county commander who had returned, they dared to slack off, so they quickly lowered the drawbridge and opened the city gate.

"If you dare to shout when you enter the city, let you see if your mouth is fast, or my knife is fast!" Xia Xue whispered a threat in Tian County's ear.

"The lower officials don't dare, the lower officials don't dare! The lower officials must be honest...... Please be merciful! ……”

Xia Xue and his entourage pressed Tian County Order into Changle County, Tian County Order, who was greedy for life and afraid of death, was really honest, very obedient, very cooperative, and let him do whatever he wanted, Xia Xue asked him to lead the way and go straight to the county jail.

Since it was dark and the light was dim, the officers and soldiers defending the city did not notice anything unusual.

After Xia Xue and his entourage successfully arrived at the cell, they quickly controlled the prison guards, released all the more than 500 She prisoners, and broke into the county government military weapons warehouse to distribute the weapons inside to more than 500 She prisoners, and asked Panlong, Lan Ying, Lei Bao, Lei Hu, Zhong Tao and other five people to lead 100 brothers each to quietly surround the Sui army barracks in the county seat.

In order to prevent the expansion of casualties, Xia Xue and Li Jing and others discussed with each other, and asked Tian County to order the generals above the junior and intermediate level in the barracks, such as the long history, soldiers, generals, captains, brigade leaders, and team leaders, to go to the county government to discuss matters.

The generals at all levels in the barracks had just stepped into the gate of the county government, and before they could figure out what was going on, they were all taken down by Xia Xuemen and horses who were ambushed around, and they were put in prison together with Tian County's order.

Xia Xue then ordered Li Jing to lead the She warriors to attack the barracks, and the Sui army barracks were leaderless, and after a few stubborn people were killed, most of the rest raised their hands and surrendered. Xia Xue handed over the Sui army to Li Jing for reorganization.

The entire Changle County was easily taken in less than a day, and the popularity of the people was high.