Pictures quoted from the web
French Minister Gros The French Army Commander Montauban and his party arrive in Tianjin, the painting is now in the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
Author Huaihe Rain
Short Commentary
The Tianjin negotiations broke down and the Qing Empire officially declared war on Britain and France.
Readers interested in reading the previous installment of the Second Opium War series can click on the blue characters below.
1, The Second Opium War After the Treaty of Nanjing, Guangzhou was in a state of flux.
2, The Second Opium War What’s coming is coming, and the storm is rising again in Guangzhou.
3, The Second Opium War Foolish Yip Ming-chen, chaotic Guangzhou.
4, The Second Opium War The Four Great Powers besiege the Qing Dynasty, how can we fight this war?
5, The Second Opium War Yip Mingshen continues to deceive Emperor Xianfeng, Guangzhou is lost.
6, The Second Opium War The first battle at Dagu Kou, the Qing army only resisted for two hours.
7, Second Opium War If you can’t beat them, negotiate, and the Qing Empire signed another unequal treaty.
8: The Second Opium War In the second battle of Dagu Kou, the Empire showed its military might and defeated the British and French forces.
9: The Second Opium War The United States was humiliated by the exchange of treaties, and Britain and France decided to expand the war.
10, Second Opium War The third battle of Dagu Kou, Singhlin Qin made a mistake in judgment and the Qing army was defeated.
01
Sinqlin was one of the most important representatives of the warring factions within the Qing Empire, a very hard-line type.
Although the Third Battle of Dagu Kou, which was commanded by him, was a dry defeat, it cannot be said that he was unprepared for it.
After the Second Battle of Dagu Kou, Singh added a lot of troops in the area of Tianjin Dagu Kou.
The core position of Gyeonggi naval defense Dagu Kou Fortress Group, on the other hand, built a large number of defensive stone walls, dug a lot of ditches, and arranged bamboo spikes and other obstacles.
However, in front of the allied forces, all their efforts were ineffective.
In fact, at the Third Battle of Dagu Kou, Singhlinqin’s will to fight was already shaken, instead of waiting until the Battle of Baliqiao.
Retreating to Tongzhou, Singhlinqin sent a petition to Xianfeng, first in his own defense.
Then he said, although we lost the battle of Dagu Kou, but from Tianjin to Beijing, they have arranged, the foreigners absolutely can not come over.
But the wind turned, and said what fear of Tongzhou area war, affecting the feng shui of the capital, please Xianfeng with his wife and children to go on a tour of Mulan it.
Cruise Mulan, Mulan is what?
Mulan is a Manchu language, translated into Chinese means deer hunting.
In order to facilitate the Emperor’s deer hunting, the Qing Empire set up the Mulan paddocks on the borders of the four flags of the Zhaoda League of Inner Mongolia, the Zhoushotu League, the Xilin Gol League and the Chahar Mongols.
The emperor and other royalty need to rest after hunting, the paddock around the construction of a number of palaces, which is the most important, but also the most well-known when the Chengde Summer Resort.
Cruise Mulan is very polite Very euphemistic way of saying, in plain English is, leadership! The situation is not good, you run first.
Xianfeng of course does not intend to run, the situation is not yet to the point of landslide well.
He gave two orders.
First, ordered Guiliang to Tianjin, together with the Governor of Zhili Hengfu together, and then negotiate with Britain and France.
Second, to run a regiment.
The Opium War series has also been written a lot, readers who have read the previous part should not be unfamiliar with the regimentation, the imperial monarchs and ministers seem to be quite fascinated by the organization of the regimentation.
On the one hand, the imperial courtiers treated the people as if they were grass and squeezed them like crazy.
On the other hand, when foreign enemies invaded, they expected to mobilize the people to resist the invasion.
This is a schizophrenic operation that is incomprehensible.
One can only say that, in the eyes of the imperial rulers and ministers, the people are slaves.
It was proper for them to whip slaves, and it was proper for them to drive slaves to work, such as to defend the enemy.
The only thing that is not proper is to be nice to the populace.
Xianfeng appointed Zhou Zupei, the Minister of Revenue and his own teacher, to have full authority to coordinate the regimentation.
Mr. Zhou’s first thought was money, and he could not run the regiment without silver.
He told Xianfeng, the gentry can take the lead to donate money, the gentry donated, the people will have the consciousness to follow the donation.
After the people donated, the gentry’s money returned in the original amount, the people’s money in three or seven accounts, anyway, the meaning is to get some money from the people there.
The country is in trouble, let the people give money, is there a problem? Of course there was no problem.
How did the regiment work out in the end? I’ll tell you in advance. It’s the same as the one in Canton. It’s useless.
After all, not everyone can train a local army as strong as the Xiang and Huai armies.
In the movie, Li Hung-chang is on the left and Tseng Kuo-fan is on the right.
After the destruction of the Jiangnan camp, plus the Mongolian iron horsemen in the Bali Bridge loss, Li Hongzhang’s Huai army and Zeng Guofan’s Xiang army is the late Qing dynasty’s strongest fighting force. Especially the Huai Jun, after the death of Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang completely rise, Huai Jun became the late Qing dynasty’s first major military and political group. Until Yuan Shikai’s Beiyang Army appeared, Xianghuai Army in the late Qing Dynasty, the first position of the war power to give way.
02
Arriving in Tianjin, Guiliang met with a rebuff. The British Minister Erkin and the French Minister Gros refused to see him, and only sent Bashari to negotiate with Guiliang.
The Second Opium War The time had come for the storm to rise again in Guangzhou. Second Opium War Foolish Yip Ming-chen, chaotic Guangzhou. The Second Opium War Yip Ming-chen continues to cajole the Xianfeng Emperor, and Guangzhou is lost. The second opium war Yip Ming-chen continued to cajole the Xianfeng Emperor, Guangzhou was lost.
During the negotiation, Barciarelli and others were extremely tough, and the terms proposed by Britain and France had to be accepted in full, or else they would meet each other in arms.
The main terms included 1, the indemnity increased to 8 million taels of silver, 2, the Qing army withdrew from Tongzhou, 3, the British and French were allowed to bring 1,000 soldiers each into Beijing to change the treaty, and 4, the increase of Tianjin as a port of entry for trade.
Xianfeng rejected these demands without even thinking about them.
Perhaps he also felt that the conditions were too harsh, and when negotiating again, Ba Xia Li lowered some of his demands.
8 million taels of indemnity, first pay 4 million taels, the remaining 4 million taels later.
Gui Liang saw that there is a chance, immediately proposed that 4 million taels is still too much, how about 1 million taels.
Ba Xia Li almost jumped to his feet after hearing this, I asked for 800, and you said it was too much, I took the initiative to reduce it to 400, and cut myself at the waist.
Good guy, you actually cut towards the ankle, there is such a cut price?
In fact, the amount of 1 million taels, Gui Liang can not do.
He can only ask Xianfeng, can not give 1 million taels of compensation.
When Xianfeng received Guiliang’s inquiry, he was not willing to give 1 million taels, not to mention 4 million taels.
That’s not all, Xianfeng played with his mind’s eye again.
The emperor’s intention is to bring troops into Beijing to change the covenant into what behavior, only allowed Britain and France to send a few people to Beijing, not allowed to bring weapons.
Xianfeng this side of the instructions finished Guiliang, that side told the stationed in Tongzhou, the monk grinqin.
If the representatives of Britain and France really come, you will arrest them on the way and escort them to Tianjin to Guiliang.
Xianfeng sometimes really quite pit, you as a king of a country, how to always give this kind of self-contradictory orders?
Gui Liang is to receive you Xianfeng’s decree, agreed to release the British and French delegation into the capital, the words are from Gui Liang’s mouth.
Singhalesein escorted the delegation to Tianjin to Guiliang, Guiliang if you see to go to Beijing to change the contract of the British and French delegation was tied up in front of the eyes, so that he how to deal with himself.
Tianjin is now controlled by the British and French allied forces, if the allied forces in anger, launched a fire, Guiliang still have life? Isn’t it typical to push people into the fire pit?
But the good thing is that at the end of August, after the negotiation reached a deadlock, Guiliang and other people returned to Beijing successively.
The British and French delegations did not go to Beijing without authorization until the negotiations were finalized.
September 2, Xianfeng ordered Prince Yi Zaiyuan Minister of war Mu Yin again to Tianjin negotiations.
This time the negotiations also did not have any results, the British and French conditions remain unchanged.
Reigns of anger, on September 6, issued an oracle, officially declared war on Britain and France.
Read here, is not think Xianfeng kinda man man means that a person behaves very masculine and charming .
Facts proved that Emperor Xianfeng man but three minutes.
After learning that the Qing Empire had officially declared war, British Minister Erskine and French Minister Gros decided to attack Beijing regardless.
There is a historical detail here, in fact, when Jaiyuan Muyin went to Tianjin for negotiation, Pasha Li had already loosened his lips on the issue of entering Beijing.
Pasha told the two men that they would not take 1,000 men, but they had to be allowed to take a basic guard to Beijing.
As long as they reached Peking successfully and the exchange of treaties was completed, other issues, such as compensation and the opening of Tientsin as a trading port, could be discussed later.
But at that time, Xianfeng was so angry that he insisted on a declaration of war.
On September 10th, the first 3,000 men of the allied forces marched to Tongzhou.
See Britain and France to really, hard less than three seconds of Xianfeng and soft.
Thinking and thinking, Xianfeng still let Jaiyuan Muyin to Tongzhou to talk to the British and French once again.
This side has just sent away Jaiyuan Muyin, Xianfeng rushed to convene the minister to discuss the matter of the tour of Mulan.
The emperor in the end is afraid, finally no longer insist, intends to go to Chengde summer resort to hide from the wind.
Fear in mind, the face can not show fear, or how to act.
Xianfeng this old six really want to face with life, he did not say with the ministers tour Mulan.
Rather, he told the crowd, leaving Beijing is for the Royal Palace.
Ministers are people, Xianfeng this lame to can not help but laugh at the reason, can not hide them.
Prince Gong Yi and other people persuade Xianfeng not to go, if Xianfeng now run, the capital is shaken, the front line of the Qing army officers and soldiers are not a rout of thousands of miles.
In desperation, Xianfeng had to change his mind, touring Mulan just to discuss, has not been decided.
But secretly, Xianfeng still ordered to prepare the car and horse, so that in case of emergency.
September 14, Jieguan Muyin and Ba Xia Li started negotiations in Tongzhou, according to records, the two sides talked for eight hours.
Ba Xia Li had already figured out the pulse of the Qing Empire, and not only did he not back down during the negotiations, but he also made one more request The Qing army was withdrawn from Zhangjiawan and stationed by the British army.
Zhangjiawan is in today’s Tongzhou district of Beijing, only two or three kilometers from the famous Beijing Universal Resort.
The blue box in the picture shows Zhangjiawan, which is no more than 30 kilometers away from the Forbidden City in a straight line.
Jaigaki argued his case, but in the end he had to agree.
Both sides agreed to sign on September 17th.
Originally, by this point, the war could be fought without reaching Beijing.
However, the main warring faction in the dynasty continued to encourage Xianfeng not to bow down, and they suggested that Xianfeng pretended to let the allied forces enter Beijing, and then let Singhlinqin ambush them on the way and beat them severely.
The wavering Xianfeng had no opinion, so he quietly gave orders to Singhlinqin that Ba Xia Li and the others were too rude during the negotiations, and to find the right moment to detain them.
This stupid emperor, the two countries do not cut off the envoys, detention is also a taboo ah.
September 15, Jae-woon’s folders arrived in front of the Imperial Court, Xianfeng look, feel as if the new agreement is nothing.
The allied forces want to enter Zhangjiawan, then let them come, anyway, the army of the Singhlinqin beside, not afraid of them overthrowing the sky.
So Reigns replied to Jagaki on September 16th, agreeing to sign on September 17th.
However, before the signing of the contract on September 17th, there was another ripple, Ba Xia Li proposed to meet with the emperor to present the state letter.
In today’s eyes, this is not a matter, but at that time, it is a big deal, the U.S. Minister Hua Ruohan was not able to meet with Reigns to submit the instrument of ratification.
ZaiGuan proposed, BaXiaLi see XianFeng have to kneel down.
Well! This problem can’t be solved.
Sure enough, Ba Xia Li did not agree, so there was a disagreement, September 17th signing fizzled.
On September 18th, Ba Xia Li returned to Tianjin from Tongzhou, via Zhangjiawan.
ZaiGuan quickly informed Singhalese, BaXiaLi to your defense area, this is not the right time to seize it.
Without saying a word, he seized all 39 members of Pasha Li’s party, 26 Englishmen and 13 Frenchmen.
Again, this incident is not mentioned much in history textbooks because it’s not honorable.
The consequences of the seizure of the British and French delegations were disastrous, and the Qing Empire itself had cut off any possibility of negotiation.
The fate of Paschale and others not only had a huge impact on the subsequent war, but also on the reputation of the Qing Empire in the Western world.
But the Qing Empire didn’t care, not to mention that they didn’t know what this kind of behavior meant in the rules of modern international politics.
ZaiGuan the monk grinqin arrested BaXiaLi as a victory report to xianfeng, and said catch the thief catch the king, BaXiaLi is the barbarians mastermind, this time was captured, barbarians heart must be chaotic, I have already notified HengFu and so on, let the militia group to intercept the barbarians back road.
Xianfeng’s reply was You Jai Yuan repeatedly opposed, Ba Xia Li still insisted on hand delivery of the state letter, this is Ba Xia Li’s wrong, to arrest them no problem.
Tell them, to deliver the state letter, do it according to the American-Russian way.
If they don’t want to hand-deliver the letter, they have to do the Chinese kneeling ceremony.
If that doesn’t work, we’ll go to war.
Stupid Manchurian officials are still dreaming.
Basha Li and other people’s tragic fate in the future is not involved for the time being, continue the story in front of us.
During the negotiation between Jagaki and Ba Xia Li, the allied forces kept moving forward.
By the evening of September 17th, the day of the failed signing of the contract, the advance guard of the allied forces had already arrived at Zhangjiawan, the garrison was less than two kilometers away from the Qing army.
At 6:00 a.m. on September 18, the two sides, already torn apart, came to blows.
At this time, Singhlinqin hand directly under the force of 20,000 people, deployed in Zhangjiawan.
Guanglu Temple Secretary Shengbao with 6,000 troops stationed in Dingfuzhuang in today’s Chaoyang District, Beijing, about 15 kilometers from Zhangjiawan.
Ruilin, a university scholar, was stationed at Baliqiao with 8,000 men, which was closer to Zhangjiawan, 10 kilometers away.
After the signing fizzled out on September 17th, Xianfeng instructed Sinqlin to fight hard.
At the same time, Xianfeng also instructed the Governor of Zhili Hengfu, mobilized the militia, heavy bounty, beheading a black barbarians Indian soldiers in the British army Reward of 50 silver, white barbarians bounty of 100 silver.
If you can kill the general of the allied forces, you will be rewarded 500 taels of silver.
Our Emperor Xianfeng is still dreaming of a people’s war.
The tactic of Singhlinqin was to place the troops in his hand in a long serpentine formation, with infantry on the left and center, and cavalry on the right.
He planned to use the left and central infantry to attract the firepower of the allied forces, and the right wing cavalry to detour and plunge into the back of the allied forces, defeating his opponent in one fell swoop.
Unfortunately, the ideal was plump and the reality was bony.
The allied forces took the lead in launching an attack on the left wing of the Qing army, and in the artillery battle, the Qing army was completely suppressed.
This was followed by an allied infantry charge, and in front of the left wing of the Qing army was a large area of sorghum. Sorghum not only provides cover for the allied forces, but also greatly impedes the Qing army reconnaissance sight.
Singhlinqin also did not take advantage of the sorghum field, in which to set up ambushes, resulting in the left flank of the Qing army is not clear, thinking that the attack is the coalition forces.
As a result, before the allied forces rushed to the position, the left wing of the Qing army will be routed and fled.
It is worth mentioning that during the Battle of Zhangjiawan, the range advantage of the Allied artillery did not come to the fore because of the close distance.
According to the British and French soldiers who participated in the battle at that time, a large number of Qing artillery shells flew over their heads.
This shows that the range of Qing artillery was perfectly adequate, but the poor training level of Qing artillerymen resulted in their inability to effectively kill their opponents in an artillery battle.
What’s worse, the Qing army was guilty of the same thing as in the past, including the future, each sweeping the snow in front of their door, not caring about the frost on their tiles.
When the allied forces attacked the left flank of the Qing army, the central artillery of the Qing army, looking at the allied forces close at hand, actually did not open fire, and sat back and watched the left flank being overwhelmed.
Seeing the collapse of the left flank position, the central Qing army turned around and ran without saying a word.
The Mongolian cavalry on the right flank did charge the allied forces, but encountered a joint blockade by the British Royal Dragoon Guards and the Indian Sikh Cavalry Regiment, failing to complete the task of detouring and outflanking.
Seeing the collapse of the left flank corps and the central corps, Singhlinqin stopped fighting and ordered the Mongolian cavalry to withdraw from the battle and retreat with himself.
There has always been a controversy about the Battle of Zhangjiawan, how many troops of the Allied Forces were involved in the battle.
Chinese history records at 4,000 men, Western history records at less than 2,000 men.
I can’t say that both accounts are wrong, but the Western accounts are closer to reality.
At that time, in order to protect the negotiation mission, the allied forces sent 3,000 men to the town of Hexiwu in today’s Wuqing District of Tianjin.
On the morning of September 17th, about 1,000 British troops stayed in Hexiwu town, while the remaining 2,000 went to Zhangjiawan, 30 kilometers away, under the leadership of French commander Montauban.
Of these 2,000 men, 1,600 were French troops, and the 400 British troops were mainly Indian Sikh cavalry.
Why is it that the Chinese historical record of 4,000 men cannot be said to be wrong either?
Because at the end of the battle, the British reinforcements arrived on the battlefield, including the British Royal Dragoon Guards who were with the Indian Sikh Cavalry to stop the Mongol cavalry.
Therefore, it can only be said that both accounts are not wrong, right?
In the inventory of the Battle of Zhangjiawan, the Qing army lost about 1,500 men, and the allied army lost 36 men, three of whom were killed in action.
The only thing worth mentioning is that one of the three allied soldiers killed in action was the youngest son of Damas, the former French foreign minister.
An illustration published in the December 22, 1860 issue of the Illustrated World depicts the British Royal Dragoon Guards arriving to support them in the Battle of Zhangjiawan against the Qing Mongol cavalry. The ever-elite Mongolian cavalry was defeated by the British cavalry in the heat of battle, but the withdrawal from the battlefield in the middle of the battle resulted in Singhalese failing to fully assess the gap between the two armies. In the Battle of Baliqiao, Singhlinqin forced the Mongol cavalry to repeatedly attack the allied positions, resulting in huge losses and defeat.
03
After the Battle of Zhangjiawan, Singhlinqin gave a report to Xianfeng, bragging that he had killed countless enemies, and he retreated to Baliqiao by crossing Tongzhou County.
The allied forces easily entered the undefended Tongzhou County and looted a lot.
Xianfeng panicked when he received the report. Of course, he didn’t believe Singhlinqin’s claim that he had killed countless enemies.
He ordered his men to be ready to go to Chengde Summer Resort at any time to hide from the wind.
But as the emperor, he could not do nothing.
On September 19th, Xianfeng instructed Singhlinqin to
1, not to fight head on
2, send cavalry to outflank if necessary.
3, why can’t we sneak in at night?
Honestly, while Reigns was pretty pitiful at times, there was no shortage of merit in his instructions.
For example, in the battle of Zhangjiawan, the allied officers who participated in the battle had described in their diaries that they arrived at Zhangjiawan on the night of September 17th after a night of no sleep, fearing a night attack by the Qing army.
Later historians have also argued that, because it has received instructions from Xianfeng to hit hard, the best time for Singhlinqin to strike is the night of September 17th, or the early morning of September 18th.
September 18 at 6:00 am, the sky is bright, the battlefield situation is completely exposed, whether to attack or defense, the Qing army are no advantage.
But one night, Singhlinqin did not do anything, perhaps he was not confident in the ability of his men to fight at night.
As for not being able to fight head on, although Xianfeng is not in the front line, but he seems to realize the huge gap between his army and the allied forces.
But Singh Linqin do not believe in evil, froze in the eight miles of bridge front hard, the end is very tragic.
END
Author Huaihe Rain, an unknown 90s self-media writer, a single-cell liberal arts student, tries to share his views on the world with his friends!
In order to prevent loss of connection, new and old numbers can be followed together.
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