On March 27, 1883, the French army was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Henri Rivière from Hanoi along the Red River downstream to Nam Dinh and then Lieutenant Trentimian was assigned to attack Hung Yen. Nguyen Duc Dat did not resist and ran away. On March 28, the citadel was taken by the invaders. Dinh Gia Que, who was in charge of Dong Yen district (Khoai Chau), was angry, resigned and came back home in Tho Binh commune (now Tan Dan commune, Khoai Chau district).

Dinh Gia Que came from a wealthy family. He was not only brave, but also hated and punished bosses, who oppressed farmers so he was loved by people. When he recruited soldiers, people from Khoai Chau district, My Hao district, Van Giang district went to Tho Binh to join in the insurgents. They provided food on their own, when there were orders; they focused on the big fight. Farmers also donated food and paid taxes to the insurgents.

Among those who joined the insurgents and became great generals, there were Doc Sung, De Tinh, De Ban and Doc Cop. There were also reputable academics such as bachelor Nguyen Huu Duc of Me Xa village (An Thi district). Many people voluntarily joined the insurgents, donated food and money so that Dinh Gia Que used in the military.

Dinh Gia Que took Bai Say as a base. Bai Say was a large area of ​ Khoai Chau, Van Giang, Yen My, My Hao.

He built a stronghold in his village - Tho Binh and some warehouses, a place to practice shooting and martial arts. Around the stronghold, there were many tunnels to help the insurgents hide when they were attacked.

Nguyen Thien Thuat was ordered to recruit soldiers to hit French army. But then the court reconciled with France. He resisted the orders and came to Dong Trieu to gather soldiers for anti-French resistance and repeatedly went to Bai Say to contact Dong Que.

When the insurgents were attacked by French army, Nguyen Thien Thuat sent troops to garrison in My Hao.

Bai Say insurgents hit many battles in Khoai Chau, My Hao, Van Giang, An Thi, Tien Lu and controlled the road 5 Hanoi - Hai Phong.

French army did not destroy the insurgents, they must assign the traitor - Hoang Cao Khai to suppress the insurgents. He failed and withdrew the troops to Khoai Chau. To deal with the insurgents, the French built many forts in the province such as Ban Yen Nhan, Ung Loi, Dinh Cao, Bang Ngang, Pho Nham, An Vi, Binh Phu, Luc Dien, Tho Hoang ...

In the spring of 1885, Dong Que was seriously ill, the French army opened many large sweeps, burned many areas in Bai Say. He had to flee to Duong Trach village, Khoai Chau district and died there on November 21, 1885.

The resistance movement of Bai Say settled down, by the end of 1885, Nguyen Thien Thuat directly came back to command the insurgents.