Chapter 18 Chapter 4 "Battle Situation" in Guangzhou

On March 5, 1841, Minister Counselor Yang Fang hurried to Guangzhou.The local officials, gentlemen and people seemed to be looking forward to a savior. After the front-line battle at Humen Hengban on February 26, the British army conquered the Wuyong Fort heavily guarded by the Qing army on February 27, the Pazhou Fort on March 2, and the Pizhou Fort on March 3. It is only a few kilometers away from Guangzhou. (See Figure 3 for details) It was presented together with Yiliang on February 28th, indicating that Qishan, who "has been wiped out since he was in charge of the army," unexpectedly disregarded Holy Wrath and made an astonishing move. On March 3rd, Yu Baochun, the prefect of Guangzhou, was sent to Go to the British ship, meet Yilu, and ask for an armistice. The reason is very strange: Qi Jue is about to be deposed.This is like a gambler who has lost everything and tells the debt collector, "Stop it, I have no money".Elliot asked Yu Baochun to bring back a "Treaty of Reconciliation and Conquest of Soldiers", the price was much higher than the previous "Good Decision Matters": the indemnity increased to 12 million taels, the land was ceded to increase Tsim Sha Tsui (that is, Kowloon), and the one-sided most-favored-nation clause, etc. .Knowing that Qi Shan was about to fall, Elliot ordered Guangzhou General A Jing A, Guangdong Governor Yi Liang, former Governors of Guangdong and Guangxi Lin Zexu, and Deng Tingzhen to "put the public seal together face to face" within three days.Naturally, no one dared to agree to such a condition.

The three-day deadline expired on March 6, and Yang Fang just arrived on March 5. How could we not let the people "cheer endlessly", and how could we not let the officials "rely on the Great Wall"? In people's minds at that time, Yang Fang's status was by no means ordinary.Yang Fang, from Songtao, Guizhou. Joined the army at the age of 15. So far, he has been in the army for 55 years and has experienced hundreds of battles.In order to participate in Pingdingchuan Chu Bailian Sect, he was appointed as the commander-in-chief and the admiral of Guyuan.Obtained the post of Yunqiwei for pacifying Tianli religion in Henan.He was dismissed many times because of lax control of the Ministry.But everyone knows that he is a good fighter, and when he encounters a battle, he is invited out of the mountain, and his military exploits are outstanding.The most outstanding achievement in his life was the pacification of Zhang Geer's battle in the early years of Daoguang. At that time, as a counselor, he led his troops in pursuit, captured Zhang Geer, and sent him to Beijing.Emperor Daoguang was captured in person and gave Yang Fang a lot of rewards: he was granted the title of Marquis of Guoyong, the third class; For Juren.As for rewards such as clothing, robes, finger corals, etc., it is difficult to list them.

In 1835, Yang Fang was 65 years old and was allowed to retire due to illness.But in the second year, there was a mutiny in Zhenyu Town, Hunan Province, and Emperor Daoguang used him again.Before he came to Guangdong, he was the admiral of Hunan. He was preparing to go to Beijing to ask for training. He traveled to Fengcheng, Jiangxi, and was appointed by the Minister of Counselor on February 12. Emperor Daoguang's intention at this time is very obvious, with his trusted nephew Yishan as the commander-in-chief, Wen Youlongwen (Minister of Military Aircraft and Minister of the Ministry of Households at the time), and Wu You Yang Fang.Among the three, Emperor Daoguang had the greatest hope for Yang Fang, hoping to restore the former glory of the Northwest in the southern seas and borders.

Compared with Qi Shan, Yang Fang's advantage is obvious: no matter how many times he goes up and down, he has fought all over half of China, and he is also a marquis. Made with swords, spears, bows and arrows. However, Yang Fang's war horse has never set foot in Guangdong.Like all the officials of the "Heavenly Dynasty", he encountered strange enemies. On the second day after Yang Fang took office, Elliot sent troops to attack on March 6, saying that the agreed time limit had expired, and captured Liede and Ershawei Forts, causing the defenders to collapse. Liede and Ershawei now belong to the urban area of ​​Guangzhou, only 3 kilometers away from the southeast corner of Guangzhou City at that time. The British army had already seen the city wall of Guangzhou.But on the same day, Elliot issued a notice expressing his willingness to cease fighting.According to the records of the British side, the Qing side sent Yu Baochun to negotiate again, saying that although the Guangdong authorities also wanted a truce, the emperor would never approve it.This action of Yu Baochun was undoubtedly approved by Yang Fang.This is likely to be the first decision of the Counselor after taking office.

Although Elliot's request was not met, the fighting between the two sides stopped for a few days. What did Yang Fang do during this time?A private record stated: After Yang Fang arrived in Guangzhou, "I only bought clocks and watches and foreign goods all day long, and at night I bought pretty children for fun, and even Yao Xunbu and others shaved the woman's hair and sent her to the house as a servant..." The record is also called: Regarding the plot of "purchasing the toilet to defend the cannon", another private record said that Yang Fang believed that the British army would win, "there must be a heretic and skillful person in it." The "barbarians" who are against "evil religions and good arts" are the so-called spells that use evil to control evil.Whether this method was used cannot be confirmed, because the record mentions "going to Wuchong", that is, it was used in the battle at Wuchong, and Wuchong had been occupied by the British army long before Yang Fang's arrival.However, I think it should be true that Yang Fang's incomprehension of Western sharp weapons shown behind "toilet", "straw man", "dojo" and "ghosts and gods" should be true.

According to Lin Zexu's diary, Yang Fang's arrival seems to have changed his mood greatly.From March 5th to 18th, or Yang Fang came to worship, or Lin Bai Yang Fang, in just 14 days, there were as many as 11 meetings. On March 19, due to the urgent situation, it is likely that Yang Fang felt that it was still inconvenient for her to come and go, so she simply moved to Lin Zexu's apartment and lived with her for 8 days. On March 26, Yang Fang moved to another apartment, but her contact with Lin was still very close.Since Lin Zexu's diary records are too brief, we don't know the content of Lin and Yang's discussions, but Lin Zexu should be an insider of Yang Fang's various actions.

According to Yang Fang's memorial, after he took office, he immediately deployed soldiers to defend the provincial capital, and sent 1,000 troops to Dongsheng Temple in the east of the provincial capital and Fenghuanggang in the southwest of the provincial capital.He also built Saihe wooden rafts on the provincial river, and placed wooden barrels (I don't know if they are toilets in folklore) on the row, storing poisonous tung oil in them, ready for fire attack.The British records said that the Qing side was preparing for battle, which also confirmed Yang Fang's statement.In addition, the Guangdong authorities also issued a red card on March 10 to allow American merchant ships to enter Hong Kong for trade, in order to drive a wedge between Britain and the United States, and achieve the effect of "controlling barbarians with barbarians".After hearing the news, Elliot announced the blockade of Guangzhou on the same day. Since the British are not allowed to do business, then no one can do it!

The British army was not idle at this time. After conquering Ershawei on March 6, they began to break into the Henan waterway and open up another route to the provincial capital. On March 13, just as Qishan, who was detained, left Guangzhou, the war broke out again, and the British army captured the Dahuangjiao Fort, which was being fortified. Elliot's intelligence seems to be slow.He obviously didn't know that Qishan had already traveled northward. On March 16, he sent Qishan another note requesting armistice negotiations, and sent a small boat with a white flag to go northward from Dahuangjiao, ready to be sent to the provincial capital.However, when passing through the Fenghuanggang Fort, the Jiangxi soldiers sent there by Yang Fang probably did not know the rules of the white flag, so they fired artillery bombardments, and the British ships had to retreat (this battle was described as a big victory, which will be described in detail later) .

Yilu decided to retaliate against this, and sent troops to attack aggressively.From the morning of March 18th, the British warship headed north from Dahuangjiao, including Fenghuanggang, Yongjing Fort, West Fort, Haizhu Fort and a sandbag fort in Henan.By 4:00 p.m., the British army occupied the commercial hall in the southwest corner of Guangzhou. After two years, the British flag was raised again. So far, the east and west roads of Guangzhou City have no barriers at all, and are completely exposed to the artillery fire of the British ships.According to Lin Zexu's diary, the British ships "opened dozens of cannons and rockets" to the provincial capital, and Guangzhou has become a dangerous city.

Let us go back and review the 20-day inland river battle in Guangzhou from the Battle of Wuyong on February 27 to March 18 when the British army reoccupied the commercial hall. Since the beginning of the Opium War, the leaders of Guangzhou, Lin Zexu, Qishan, Yiliang, and Yang Fang, have all noticed the defense of Guangzhou’s inland river once Humen is breached. The wooden piles were blocked to prevent the British ships from approaching Guangzhou.Among them, there are 900 Hunan soldiers from Qishan sent by Wuyong Fortress, and 700 local defenders, a total of 1,600. Nearby are the battleship Combridge and 40 warships purchased by Lin Zexu. , the strength of the army was not too thick, and the result was a big defeat. 446 soldiers below Xiangfu were killed (most of them were killed by British artillery during the rout); Ershawei and Liede areas not only had forts, but also the river was blocked. He sent Yiliang to sit in the town, and later was stationed in Changchun, the commander-in-chief of Nangan Town, Jiangxi Province. However, when the British army dismantled the river obstacles, the defenders sat idly by and collapsed after the battle. Yang Fang sent 1,000 troops in the Fenghuanggang area, Nothing to do in the March 18 fight.The day before the battle, the general defending the Dahuangjiao Fort sent someone to discuss with the British army:

What can we say about such soldiers? According to British records, during the 20-day inland river battle in Guangzhou, the British army destroyed more than ten Qing army forts and barracks, destroyed dozens of warships, and captured about 400 artillery pieces. In these military operations of the British army, only a few light warships were dispatched each time.For example, in the most intense battle of Wuchong, there were 5 British ships and 2 ships.Another example is the most dramatic battle of the Dahuangjiao Fort, with 2 British ships and 1 ship.Even in the operation that shocked Yang Fang on March 18, the British army only used 5 warships, 2 ships, 1 transport ship and some small boats.Officials of the Qing Dynasty who had always said that large British warships were not allowed to enter the inland rivers and that small boats were incapable of doing anything, had a taste of the power of British light warships this time.Just like the previous battles in Humen, the casualties of the British army in the Neihe battle were extremely light. Only 8 people were injured in the battle on March 18. I have not found corresponding records for the other battles. Here, it is also necessary to mention the battle of the Xijiang Waterway. On March 13, 1841, when the Qing army at the Dahuangjiao Fortress was fighting the British warship with air guns, the British armed ship Nemesis towed two small boats and sailed into the Xijiang waterway on the west side of Macau.During the 3-day voyage, this small fleet actually destroyed 6 forts along the way, destroyed 9 warships of the Qing army, destroyed more than 100 cannons of the Qing army, and dismantled many obstacles blocking the river.On the 15th, I successfully arrived at Lianhua Mountain behind Humen.According to the records of British officers, the whole operation was like a picnic on a holiday. From March 5th to March 18th, Yang Fang, the marquis of Guoyong with great military exploits, finally figured out the fact that he did not have any tricks to subdue these "barbarian" people in these two weeks.He has woken up from the dream full of strategy on his way to Guangdong. In terms of the strength and weapons of the British army at that time, since the capture of Wuyong Fort on February 27, 1841, it was fully capable of capturing Guangzhou in one go. Here a question arises: Why didn't Elliot do this?Why did he do the opposite, asking again and again on March 3, March 6, March 16 for an armistice and calling for negotiations? Elliot's idea was simple. He didn't want the war in Guangzhou to scare away the wealthy businessmen living in Guangzhou. Counting from March 1839 when Lin Zexu sealed off the trading house, Sino-British trade had been suspended for two full years.For the British merchants in London, Mumbai and Guangdong, the loss of tea and silk trade alone in the past two years was extremely heavy, and the British government treasury also paid millions of pounds in tea tax every year.It is not that Elliot, who is the general supervisor of China's commercial affairs, does not understand the pros and cons of this.And the dozens of British merchant ships that have been lingering outside the Humen Gate seem to be beating his nerves all the time, hurry up to do business, hurry up to do business!Because of this, since the Guangdong negotiations with Qishan started, Elliott has sought to resume trade as soon as possible, so that the gentlemen in London can continue to maintain the elegant style of afternoon tea. However, business had to be conducted between merchants of the two countries. If the merchants in Guangzhou were frightened by the British cannons and fled one after another, who would they do business with? If military victory cannot bring economic benefits, then no matter how outstanding martial arts are, they will lose their meaning.The Anglo-Saxons' trip was not for "Xuanwei Haiyan".They value business profits above anything else. Therefore, after learning that Qishan had been deposed, Elliot expected that the Sino-British treaty could not be concluded in Guangzhou, and instead sought to restore trade in Guangzhou first, and then lead the army to attack northward, looking for another way out of the treaty. Therefore, after the British army reoccupied the commercial hall on March 18, 1841, Elliot sent a note to the "Imperial Envoy" in Guangzhou (he did not know that Yang Fang was in charge of Guangzhou at this time), requesting that he immediately communicate with the "Minister of the Nobility" in Guangzhou on the same day. "Interview, and limited to "half-hour" (maybe half an hour, that is, 1 hour) reply.As for the origin of the note, "it is now reported", it refers to the meeting between US Vice Consul Edward Delano and Guangzhou Governor Yu Baochun.Yu Baochun did not entrust the US vice-consul to tell Elliot that he hoped to negotiate peace with the British side. Elliot wrote this, apparently just to find an excuse. In the precarious situation in Guangzhou City, Yang Fang quickly responded.He was originally a military commander and had no right to negotiate with the British side, so he could only refuse the British side's request for an interview.In the note, there is the phrase "public war, I have to defend", and it also has a bit of a jade-like style.However, Yang Fang did not close the door to negotiations, but proposed a method of written representations. According to Lin Zexu's diary, on the morning of March 18, Lin Zexu "went to meet" Yang Fang.However, the British army occupied the commercial building at 4:00 p.m. that day, so the communication between Elliot and Yang Fang at the quotation meeting could only take place after 4:00 p.m.It seems that this note from Yang Fang probably did not go through Lin Zexu.However, according to Lin's diary on March 19, Yang Fang and Yi Liang came to Lin Zexu's apartment together on that day, "discussing all day long" and discussing countermeasures together. When Yang, Yi, and Lin were discussing the big plan, on March 19, Yu Baochun, the prefect of Guangzhou, was negotiating with Elliot in the business hall.In response to Yang Fang's note, Elliott also issued a strongly worded note, pointing out that "if the Qing Dynasty fails to act fairly and settle matters, which honors the prestige of the Great Britain, I will still lead my troops to fight with all provinces." In addition, Elliot also handed Yu Baochun a memorandum stating that as long as a notice is issued to treat foreigners preferentially and resume trade, the British army will retreat and stop military operations.Yu Baochun asked for time to consider, but Elliot did not agree. The notes and memorandum brought back by Yu Baochun were discussed among the Big Three in Guangzhou, Yang Fang, Yiliang, and Lin Zexu.Lin Zexu did not elaborate on the specific content of the discussion in his diary, but two results can be seen from the diary: 1. After the discussion on March 19, the "Counselor moved to live with Yu Yu." If the two parties do not share their interests, "living together" seems impossible.From this, we can speculate that the Big Three came to the same opinion. 2. The diary on March 20 stated: "Counselor Committee Yu Shou (Bao Chun) went to the barbarian ship to give a reply."This shows that Lin Zexu was aware of Yang Fang's actions, which in turn shows that Yang Fang did not hide her position when she moved to Lin Yu to "live together". On March 20, Yang Fang sent Yu Baochun to send a note, agreeing to the two conditions in the legal memorandum.On the same day, Yang Fang and Yi Liang jointly issued a notice: "... Merchants from all over the world are now allowed to enter and trade in Pu as a whole. You and other merchants will trade with them, just like the old practice, and you must not obstruct and cause trouble..." This is the armistice agreement between Yang Fang and Elliot on March 20.However, Elliot did not retreat.He decided to use the force of the British army to ensure the conduct of this commercial activity of great benefit to the UK. Reviewing from today's knowledge, the reason why Yang Fang, Yiliang, and Lin Zexu succumbed and agreed to resume trade is mainly because they did not see through Yilu's true intentions.Elliot's tough attitude and rhetoric made him think that the British army really wanted to break through Guangzhou.On the other hand, they have no way of retreating.Although on March 18th when the battle was in full swing, Lin Zexu tried out the brave men in Guangzhou and distributed them in various places, but he seemed to understand that these hundreds of brave men might not really be effective; otherwise, he would not have fought as early as March 1 After learning that Wuyong had fallen, he sent his family members to "board a boat and go upriver to live there" to avoid the disaster of the war. From this, we can conclude that, based on the intelligence at the time, no matter if it was Yang Fang, Yiliang, Lin Zexu, or other people in the Qing Dynasty, if they wanted to preserve Guangzhou at this time, they had no choice but to agree to resume trade.This has nothing to do with whether he himself advocates war or peace in his heart. The authority of war lies in forcing the opponent to obey. Compared with Qi Shan, Yang Fang's violation of the order is many times more serious.Qishan was ordered to "caress" and was always unwilling to sign a treaty with the British.Yang Fang was ordered to "suppress", but he was good at reaching an armistice agreement with the British.But Yang Fang's ending is not known how many times better than Qi Shan's.The key here is how to play. On March 6, 1841, the second day after Yang Fang arrived in Guangzhou, he played Emperor Daoguang, concealing the fall of Pazhou, Liede, Ershawei and other east road forts, and only briefly mentioned that the British army "explored outposts to the provincial capital" You Yi from a distance of more than ten miles", and then changed his style of writing, talking about how he deployed his defenses, declaring that "you can look up to the Holy Land".Emperor Daoguang received this package on March 21 (it was the second day after the resumption of trade in Guangzhou), and ate this hollow dumpling, saying in the imperial edict that "reading the play will relieve your worries". On March 12, Yang Fang played again, falsely reporting that during the Battle of Wuyong, the Qing army "killed more rebels than officers and soldiers", that is, killed more than 446 enemies. "The army and the people are courageous, and there is no danger."As for the "advancement and suppression" that Emperor Daoguang desperately wanted, he found a reason for delay: he was afraid that the British army would flee and could not wipe it all out.He suggested to "temporarily detain them" and wait for Yishan and Longwen to arrive, "and then try to suppress them by land and water." Yang Fang's excuse to delay the time was a crooked one, which was exactly what Emperor Daoguang wanted.As I mentioned in Chapter 3, one of the important reasons for Emperor Daoguang’s decision to take charge of Fu was that once the Qing army, which had an “advantage” on land, succeeded in attacking, the British army would retreat to the sea and would be unable to pursue them. , the war will be delayed, and it will not be possible to achieve a complete victory like the capture of "Yi Chieftain" Zhang Geer in the Northwest.When he first ordered Yishan and Yang Fang to go out to fight, he proposed "suppressing the Yiyi".Later, he ordered many times not to let the British army go, "please send the (British) chief servants and traitors to the capital to the capital, and punish them according to the law."Therefore, when he learned that the British army had gone deep into the inland river from Humen, he didn't feel worried, and ordered "you can expect to go all out, gather and fight."When I received this memorial from Yang Fang on March 28, I was very satisfied with Yang's approach of "not pursuing small gains and ignoring the overall situation". Opportunity." At the end of the day, he excitedly wrote two paragraphs of Zhu Zhu: He also issued an edict clearly from the cabinet, praising Yang Fang for "understanding military affairs" and "preferring to the Ministry of Communications for preferential discussions". The victory that Emperor Daoguang was looking forward to came soon. On April 2, he received the memorial sent by Yang Fang on March 17.In this memorial, Yang Fang actually exaggerated the repelling of the small boats from the British side flying the white flag to send the note at Fenghuanggang on March 16, and exaggerated it into a big victory, saying that the British army had "two large warships, one steamer, More than a dozen of them rushed through the abandoned camp of Dahuangjiao (Jiao) (the words "rushed through" and "abandoned camp" were used to cover up the fall of the Dahuangjiao Fort), and they were about to cross the provincial river." The Qing army stationed in Fenghuanggang" Desperately, he stacked more than a hundred cannons, sank two British three-board ships, cut off one of the main masts of the British soldiers, and killed many British soldiers.The book also mentioned the battle on the Xijiang waterway, saying that the Qing army's "resistance" was so strong that the British ships "withdrew" that night.Emperor Daoguang read this, how could he not be happy, and said in the edict that Yang Fang was "well dispatched and won by surprise", and once again "committed Yang Fang to the Ministry for a favorable discussion". On the fifth day, April 6th, Emperor Daoguang still hadn't recovered from the excitement of the previous day, and ordered Yishan, General Jingni who was on the way: .The general waited for the stars to advance quickly...the affairs will be arranged with Yang Fangshu, and as soon as the soldiers are assembled, they will attack and revive the country's prestige. (The emphasis is marked by the citer) However, Yang Fang's cowhide was also blown too much.On the second day after he played, on March 18, the British army raged in the provincial river, and the provincial capital was deeply in danger.Although Yang Fang assured the British side to "report truthfully" in his note and announcement on March 20, his memorial on March 22 was still a masterpiece of whitewashing. In this memorial composed by Yang Fang, A Jing'a (Guangzhou General), and Yi Liang, it was first stated that the US Vice Consul Dolina's request to allow Britain to resume trade was rejected by the positive words; On the 18th, the wind risked his life and broke into the provincial river. Due to the tight defense of the Qing army, he had to withdraw from the 18th to the 19th; , If you bring prohibited goods, the goods will be sent to the government", and Emperor Daoguang is asked to "instruct the opportunity" on whether to allow the resumption of trade. Yang Fang was afraid that this overly concealed truth could not be explained clearly, so she attached two clips with the performance, requesting to "keep it in the middle and not release it".The first clip tactfully admitted that the Qing army was not strong enough, and there were eight difficulties in defending Guangzhou. Therefore, Yang Fang said that after careful consideration: The second clip stated that after the British army withdrew, they immediately blocked the river at Dahuangjiao and Liede Leishi, and sent troops to block the Humen Inland River. Yang Fang’s folds and clips hide two most important facts: one is that the fall of various military points along the inland river in Guangzhou and the reoccupation of commercial buildings by the British army are not mentioned at all, but falsely claiming that the British army withdrew due to the tight defense of the Qing army ; Second, there is no mention of Yu Baochun's negotiation with Elliott and Yang Fang's note and notice at all, and the fait accompli is regarded as a bill that is yet to be requested.In order to make Emperor Daoguang agree to the resumption of trade in Guangzhou, Yang Fang falsely claimed that this would be beneficial to the future "suppression". If one does not know the real situation in Guangzhou, it is difficult for people to guess the situation at that time based on Yang Fang's fragments.Emperor Daoguang, with mediocre IQ, couldn't figure it out, and issued a decree that baffles people today: . ... The foreign merchants presented the evidence of righteousness and the law of justice, on behalf of the business, etc., this is a treasonous conspiracy, to weaken the morale of our army, but now the soldiers have not gathered, there is not enough to dispatch, and Yang Fang is not allowed to flee abroad, and to the future Attack Feishou.Now Yishan and Longwenji have arrived in Guangdong... I still abide by the previous order, recover Hong Kong, and appoint a deputy. (The emphasis is marked by the citer) Regardless of the explanations for "trying to restrain" and "not controlling from a distance", just looking at the discordant scene at that time made people laugh and cry: on the one hand, they surrendered to the "barbarian chieftain" after the defeat of the army, and on the other hand, Looking forward to the capture of the "barbarians" by the soldiers, Guangzhou and Beijing are like reality and dreams. On March 31, 10 days since the resumption of trade in Guangzhou, Yang Fang still deceived Emperor Daoguang in the memorial, claiming that the American merchant ship sailed into Huangpu, which aroused the envy of the British merchants for a while. People have a glimmer of hope, so "there is no movement for ten days."The purpose of Yang Fang's move was to lure Emperor Daoguang to approve the resumption of Sino-British trade as soon as possible with the British side's docile attitude of "nothing happened".But Emperor Daoguang discovered the loopholes in it. If the American merchants sold on behalf of the British merchants, it would not be the indulgence of the British. Therefore, he ordered Yang Fang to strictly investigate whether there were any frauds such as insinuations, and at the same time clearly declared that "stop" British trade. The speed of post delivery from Guangzhou to Beijing made Yang Fang, Yi Liang and others anxious. On April 3, they played again to test Emperor Daoguang's attitude, claiming that on March 31, at the request of the United States and France, merchants in Hong Kong (that is, British India) had been approved to resume trade, and they asked Emperor Daoguang to approve British trade , "Temporarily serve as a restraint, so that it can be arranged calmly, and everything can be planned." Fifteen days later, the memorial arrived at Emperor Daoguang's case.Seeing this, he was furious, and there were as many as five Zhu criticisms in the book, including: And the cabinet clearly issued an edict, reprimanding Yang Fang and Yiliang, and "delivering them to the Ministry for strict discussion and punishment". On April 23, Yang Fang and Yi Liang were dismissed according to the dereliction of duty.Emperor Daoguang was dismissed from his post and stayed in his post because of "the time when the suppression work is tight", "to observe the aftereffect". Compared with her predecessors Lin Zexu and Qi Shan, Yang Fang's punishment couldn't have been more lenient.What's more, Yang Fang has made great achievements and caused great disasters in his life. He has removed his feathers and hats many times, and the most important thing is to be dismissed and sent to the army.However, Yang Fang was not severely punished, not because Emperor Daoguang treated others unfairly, but because he used a whole set of whitewashing, exaggeration and dodging in the memorial.He never let Emperor Daoguang know the truth about the defeat of Neihe in Guangzhou, and he never let Emperor Daoguang know that Britain had resumed trade. The majestic Marquis of Guoyong Yang Fang, who has made great military exploits, did not show the slightest "Guoyong" spirit in the battle with the British army, but he showed amazing "Guoyong" spirit in lying against Emperor Daoguang. However, if Yang Fang's lies are compared with the later Yishan, they are nothing more than trivial.