Chapter 13 Chapter Three: The Roundabout of "Suppression", "Comfort" and "Suppression"

On July 5, 1840, it was still Beijing, and everything seemed the same as usual. On this day, Emperor Daoguang, who had not lost his wife for a long time, routinely "asked the Empress Dowager in Yiqichun Garden" according to the ancestral family law, and then returned to Luan to deal with some daily official documents. On this day, Zeng Guofan, who had just been given a review after the closing of the Imperial Academy, delayed his study due to a visitor's visit, which affected his academic practice. Chang", in order to be able to "serve the country with articles".

Just when Emperor Daoguang was enjoying peace, and when Zeng Guofan, who later became famous for his martial arts, was pondering the way of "serving the country with articles", Dinghai County (now Zhoushan City), Zhejiang Province, thousands of miles away from Beijing, was already full of cannons. Shrouded in choking smoke. Beginning on June 22, 1840, Bomer, the naval commander of the British Expeditionary Force, led 19 ships including the Willis Lee, and set off from the waters around Macao, along the coast of China, and went straight to Zhoushan. The editor of the earliest English-language magazine "China Congbao" published in Guangzhou at that time, learned of the news, and published an article in the June issue introducing Zhoushan's geographical location and shipping routes.Although Bohmer did not read this article, the Commodore, who had just arrived and sailed this route, did not feel very strenuous due to the voyage information left in the past. Eight days later, the British army arrived at the southern tip of the Zhoushan Islands - Nanjiushan Island.

Zhoushan is located in the southeast of Hangzhou Bay, straddling the waters of the three provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian. There are more than 200 large and small islands and reefs in total. The island is the fourth largest island in China.There is some background worth noting: 1. In the early Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi made two military and political decisions for this place due to the need to fight against the Zheng family of Taiwan and the Gunn family of San Francisco.In terms of military affairs, Dinghai Town was established, with jurisdiction over the third battalion of the Biao Navy, with a total of more than 2,600 soldiers; in terms of politics, Dinghai County was established, and the county seat is at the southern tip of the island.

2. It is also related to Emperor Kangxi. In 1684, Emperor Kangxi approved the opening of the sea ban, and Ningbo became a treaty port open to the outside world. In 1698, Ningbo Customs set up the "Red Hair Pavilion" in Daotou, south of Dinghai County, to receive British merchant ships. In 1757, Emperor Qianlong banned British ships from entering Ningbo, and the opening of Dinghai was also suspended. However, the British were no strangers to this and coveted it. On June 30, 1840, the soldiers of the Dinghai Division who were on patrol saw the British fleet near Nanjiushan Island and reported back immediately.Zhang Chaofa, the commander-in-chief of Dinghai Town, got the news and ordered the battalions, divisions, ships, soldiers, and artillery to gather in the Daotou area south of Dinghai County, and ordered the general to rule; he led the fleet to go overseas. On July 1, he saw the British brigade sailing with the wind and thought he was invincible, so he folded his sails and returned, and reported to Zhejiang governor Wu Ergong'e, Fujian and Zhejiang governor Deng Tingzhen and others.

The purpose of the British army's occupation of Zhoushan was to establish a forward base for its long-distance fighting troops, rest and resupply, and based on this, it launched its military operations northward and southward to the China Sea.In addition, the British government also intended to occupy the island in order to gain a firm foothold in the side adjacent to the most affluent area of ​​China at that time, extend its tentacles into East China, and enter the interior from the Yangtze River, although this did not become a reality later. On July 2, 1840, British warships sailed slowly into Dingkaidotou Port.The local soldiers and civilians seem to remember the past as a treaty port, and according to the activities of opium clipper ships, it is said that "barbarian ships come to sell goods".Zhang Chaofa, the general who had made military achievements in Taiwan, called him a mistake in the wind.Only Yao Huaixiang, the county magistrate who was presiding over the birth test not long after his new appointment, was a little anxious. On the afternoon of July 4, Bohmer sent an ultimatum that they had never seen before, asking them to surrender and claiming that they would only wait for "half an hour."

One of the important reasons why "Yi people" are looked down upon by scholars in Central China is that they cannot use elegant Chinese.This time Bome's document is no exception. Not only is the sentence not beautiful, but there are also mistakes. "Half an hour" should refer to about 1 hour in Chinese, but referring to English literature, the original meaning refers to 6 hours. Yao Huaixiang, the magistrate of Dinghai County, was obviously more anxious than anyone else when he saw this article.Accompanied by some officials, he boarded the British flagship Wesley and met Boehmer.British military secretary Jocelyn (Jocelyn) recorded a very interesting sentence by Yao:

These words were of course useless, but Boehmer postponed the attack until July 5th.It must also be said that Yao's words and deeds that are inconsistent with the majesty of the "Heavenly Dynasty" are not found in the Qing Dynasty memorials. Although Emperor Daoguang and Lin Zexu, who learned of the defeat after the war, severely criticized the defense of the Qing army in Dinghai, according to the investigation by Yilibu later, Zhang Chaofa, the commander-in-chief, still carried out effective preparations for the battle within a few days before the war.However, compared with the invading British army, the Qing army in Dinghai was really outnumbered.According to British records, in the battle that started at 2:30 p.m. on July 5, the British naval guns basically destroyed the counterattack capabilities of the Qing warships and shore artillery lined up in the port in just 9 minutes.Under the cover of naval guns, its army landed on Daotou in a small boat, seized Dongyue Mountain on the east side of Daotou, set up a temporary artillery position aimed at the county seat, and attacked the county seat.But it was getting late, so they stopped attacking.In the early morning of the next day, the British army attacked again. When they reached the city gate, they found that the defenders had fled during the night.Although the records of the Qing Dynasty are different, they clearly admit the irreparable failure.When the first wave of artillery fire by the British army, Zhang Chaofa, the general soldier, was shot and fell into the water, and then crossed Zhenhai and died.Yao Huaixiang, the county magistrate, saw that the military was unfavorable, so he threw himself into the water, showing the integrity that Confucian officials should have in front of "barbarians".The soldiers of the Qing army, who had never seen such fierce artillery fire, fled in large numbers because of fear before the battle.According to Yuqian's post-war survey, among the 1,540 soldiers who participated in the battle, only 13 were killed and 13 were injured.The British claimed that there were no casualties in the battle.

Since then, according to its combat plan, the British army has imposed a blockade on Xiamen, Ningbo, Yangtze River Estuary and other important sea outlets along the coast of China. According to the plan of the British army, Dinghai should be the first battle of its war of aggression against China.But before the war in Dinghai, on July 2, the gunfire first sounded in Xiamen, Fujian. On June 30, 1840, Yilu, the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, and Yilu, the plenipotentiary, led the subsequent British troops to Zhoushan to join up with Boehmer. On July 2, while passing through Xiamen, the battleship Browne was dispatched to deliver a copy of Palmerston's letter to the Chinese Prime Minister to the local officials.The ship sailed into the Xiamen South Waterway at noon that day and anchored one nautical mile from Xiamen Island.Xiamen Tong Zhi Cai Guanlong sent a boat to inquire about his intentions, and the British side handed over a letter, saying that they would like to meet the local governor tomorrow and send official documents.The letter from the British army was returned by the Qing army.

The next day, July 3, the Brownie weighed anchor and approached Xiamen Island, and sent a translator, Robert Thom, to land in a small boat, but the Qing army stopped it by force.The Brangdi then fired at the Qing army on the shore, causing an artillery battle between the two sides.Robert Dan's report stated that the British army had severely taught the Qing army a lesson.Deng Tingzhen, who rushed to Xiamen afterwards, said that the Qing army repelled the British attack.As with all battles in the Opium Wars, the reports of the two sides never matched.But looking at the results of the battle, it seems that the strengths and weaknesses of the two sides can be seen.The Qing side claimed that 9 people were killed in battle, 16 were injured, the fort barracks were destroyed in many places, and the houses were damaged by the earthquake, while the British side claimed that there were no casualties.

Regardless of the specific circumstances of the battle, the mission of delivering the British letter was not completed.According to Palmerston's instructions, this document should be delivered in triplicate at: 1.Guangzhou; 2.One of the mouths of Yongjiang River, Yangtze River and Yellow River; 3.Tianjin. Elliot didn't want to deliver in Guangzhou, lest he would look humble in front of Lin Zexu, so he changed to Xiamen.After failing to submit a letter, the Browne left Xiamen on July 3 and arrived in Zhoushan on July 7. On July 11, 1840, Yilu and Elliot sent another ship to Zhenhai to deliver a copy of Palmerston's letter to the Prime Minister of China.According to the records of the British side, the British officers took a small boat to the shore, were allowed to land, and also submitted documents.But the document was returned the next morning, with Qing officials declaring they were too afraid to present it.The British estimated that the document had been transcribed and reported to the imperial court.They also noticed that the "mandarins" in Zhenhai did not call them "barbarians" but "honourable nation".

Wu Ergong, the governor of Zhejiang Province, has different opinions on this matter. He said that the British army detained a merchant ship in Yinxian County at sea and forced the owner to deliver the "country's fake photo book" to the court officials.Ubbelohde believed that Britain had ulterior motives and "is about to throw back the original book". Regardless of the truth of the matter, as far as Palmerston's document has not yet reached the Qing court, the British side's trip has not yet achieved its goal. Afterwards, Jiangsu officials reported that on September 9, the British army intercepted a merchant ship from Guangdong at the mouth of the Yangtze River and forced the owner to hand over a copy of the letter from Foreign Minister Palmerston to the Chinese Prime Minister to Jiangnan Admiral Chen Huacheng. I have not found the corresponding British record.But the matter was irrelevant so far, and Palmerston's letter had already been sent to the center by Qi Shanjin in Tianjin. The reason for the repeated setbacks of the British army's action to submit letters is largely due to the fact that the Qing army did not understand the meaning of the "white flag of truce"; in addition, the language barrier also added to the difficulties.However, the real reason is not the case.According to the external system of the "Tianchao", except for Guangdong, officials in all places are not allowed to accept foreign documents without permission, which is the so-called "people and ministers have no diplomacy". Holy Ming, otherwise it will be punished as "big disrespect".Fujian and Zhejiang officials did this not because of their personal decisions, but because of system constraints.In the next section, we will see how the limitation of the self-enclosed information of the "Celestial Dynasty" brought difficulties to the Qing government in understanding and judging the situation of "barbarians" and making timely decisions. Some commentators, according to "Daoguang Ocean Vessel Conquest Records" and other books, said that when the British army made a large-scale invasion of the north, it sent 5 ships to attack Xiamen. Because Deng Tingzhen had prepared in advance, he attacked Dinghai. This statement is not true.As mentioned earlier, the British fleet sent to Xiamen belonged to the second batch of troops going north, and had nothing to do with the first batch of troops attacking Dinghai. The second batch of fleet going north consisted of only 3 warships (Melville No. 1, No. Brondy, No. Perades), 2 ships and 4 transport ships, it is impossible to draw 5 warships to attack Xiamen. The authors of books such as "The Story of Daoguang's Conquest of Foreign Ships" probably deduced this conclusion from the chronological order of the Battle of Xiamen on July 2 and the Battle of Dinghai on July 5. As for the claim that Deng Tingzhen was prepared in advance, because it involves the argument of the Qing government’s judgment of the enemy’s situation that I mentioned in the second chapter, some explanations must be made. On January 5, 1840, Emperor Daoguang swapped Lin Zexu and Deng Tingzhen, and made Deng the governor of Liangjiang.Not long after, Chen Luan, governor of Jiangsu, died of illness. Fearing that Deng alone would not be able to win the important position of the two rivers, he switched Deng and Iribu on January 21 and changed Deng to the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou.Not long after, Du Yanshi, the censor, reported that opium smuggling in Fujian was rampant, and the navy was ineffective in fighting. On January 26, Deng was swapped with Gui Liang, who had just taken office, and Deng was changed to governor of Fujian and Zhejiang.On the same day, Emperor Daoguang also sent Qi Yuzao and Huang Juezi to Fujian as "imperial envoys" to "investigate the incident." Emperor Daoguang used Deng Tingzhen to supervise Fujian because he was afraid that Lin Zexu's powerful measures in Guangdong would cause opium dealers to go north and turn Fujian into an opium distribution center; he valued Deng's experience in banning opium and hoped that his performance in Fujian would be as good as his later tenure in Guangdong.Deng Tingzhen didn't leave Sui, but his official chair was transferred half of China, and he fully understood Emperor Daoguang's intentions.Therefore, after he took office, he has always made the suppression of opium smuggling a top priority, and ordered the navy to strengthen the patrol of the sea around Quanzhou, where opium smuggling is the most serious.In predicting the situation, like Lin Zexu, he did not realize that the war was imminent. Instead, he told his subordinates that "the barbarians are incompetent, and our teacher is very useful", so as to boost the confidence of the navy generals and dare to go abroad to buy opium. Armed smugglers engage in battle.In his memorial, he talked a lot about arresting opium smuggling, but did not see fortification measures against future wars. On July 2, 1840, when the British ship Brownie broke into Xiamen, the main force of the local navy was transferred by Deng Tingzhen to patrol the Quanzhou area.According to the British report, the Xiamen Fort had only five cannons, and there were only two to three hundred soldiers on the shore.That night, Hu Tingyin, the nearby general of the Tong'an Camp, got the news and led 200 troops to reinforce him.The next day, the Qing army set up a temporary artillery position with three cannons.The number of Qing troops and weapons in this period was lower than the normal fortification of Xiamen mentioned in Chapter 1; and various temporary measures were not as quick and effective as Dinghai mentioned above.How could Deng Tingzhen draw the conclusions he had prepared in advance? In fact, Deng Tingzhen himself has a clear answer to this. According to Deng Tingzhen's memorial, on July 7, 1840, the fourth day after the start of the war in Xiamen, he went to Quanzhou as soon as he got the report.He didn't know about the arrival of the British Expeditionary Force at this time. On July 13, he received a guerrilla report from Zhao'an Camp, and learned that a Portuguese interpreter in Macau revealed that the British would send 40 ships to China. "Selling smoke and barbarian boats" are warships. On July 18, he received a report from Zhang Chaofa, the commander-in-chief of Dinghai Town. Fang realized that the situation between China and Britain had changed drastically, and began to deploy defenses in Xiamen. Deng Tingzhen was originally a member of the "Heavenly Dynasty", and his judgment of the enemy's situation should be no different from that of his colleagues. The war finally broke out irretrievably.A copy of the battle report was sent from Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangsu, and Guangdong, and it was delivered to Beijing one by one along with the galloping stage horses.The tranquility and tranquility of Beijing were broken by the sound of gunfire along the coast. However, when we look back today and re-examine the memorials sent from various places, we will find that the two major military actions taken by Britain at that time: the capture of Dinghai and the blockade of the coast, the responses in the memorials were different.The former can be seen not only in the memorials of Zhejiang governor Wuer Gonger, but also reflected in the memorials of officials from Fujian, Jiangsu, Shandong and other places who received the Zhejiang Advisory Council.As for the latter, the memorials (including the blocked areas) basically did not mention it (only Lin Zexu reported the blockade of Guangzhou).Although the livelihood of fishermen and boat people along the coast would be affected, if the British did not do so, many Qing officials planned to seal off the sea, which in turn blocked the British army and cut off its aid.Although these memorials also talked about the Battle of Zhapu (July 24, 1840), the Second Battle of Xiamen (August 22, 1840), and the Battle of Chongming (August 25, 1840), and stated The "Yingyi" attack was repelled, but the Shangzuo people did not know that the cause of these small-scale armed conflicts was the blockade of the British army. Therefore, it was impossible for Emperor Daoguang to know that the main seaport in South China had been blocked by the British army, and he was still interested. Jibo often discussed with his ministers whether to implement the policy of sealing off the sea. However, after the British army’s strategy of destroying the opponent’s economy failed to achieve the desired effect, they also gave up (see the next section for details). Although Beijing already knew the facts of the war, we are not yet able to use today's way of thinking to imagine the scene at that time.Since the memorial is confidential, the information released by Dichao is limited and is issued internally. The number of private letters is not large because of the high cost (there is no post office, only private institutions), and the mass media has not yet appeared (only English for foreigners to come to China. Newspapers and periodicals), so the battle situation in the south seems to be only inquired by professionals or amateurs among the rich and powerful on the ground in the capital.Few of the common people knew about it, and even some officials stayed out of it.The Zeng Wenzhenggong mentioned at the beginning of this section, a minister of the official residence at that time, arranged a schedule for himself from morning to night: In his diary of this period, no changes caused by the war can be seen.It's a pity that we can't see the original "Cha Yu Tan" today. I don't know what he learned from the classics, history, and concentration in this issue.Guajiatun, south of the Old Summer Palace, where he lived during this period, was the place where Marshal Peng Dehuai lived after his disaster. It was only a hundred steps away from the emperor's forbidden garden, and it turned out to be a small paradise at the foot of the West Mountain.