Since China's coastal batteries from the early Qing Dynasty to the eve of the Opium War still used the construction methods of ancient cities, when the Opium War broke out, the most urgent problem facing the Qing battery was how to effectively deal with the indiscriminate bombing of British naval guns.
In fact, for the Qing government, the looting by Britain and France in the Second Opium War was really abhorrent. However, in the face of the rebellion of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing government thought that the attack of the British and French allied forces was not enough, and the peasant army was its most ferocious enemy. Therefore, the foreign policy of the Qing government is very clear, that is, under the premise of not losing China's dignity and hurting the country, there will be no military conflict with western powers, and the important thing is to "appease".
1857 65438+On February 29th, the British and French allied forces captured Guangzhou, and the following year, the allied forces invaded the north during the Spring Festival. In February, the British and French ministers sent personnel to submit a note from Britain, France, Russia and the United States to the Governor of Jiangsu, Zhao Dezhe, requesting that an imperial envoy be sent to Shanghai to meet with the ministers of the four countries before the end of March. At this time, the Qing government still thought that things were not big enough to worry about.
Emperor Xianfeng thought that "this time, the foreigners claimed that the soldiers had violated the rules and occupied the capital of Guangdong, and now they came to Shanghai to deliver a note, saying that they would go to Tianjin, threatening them with empty voices and wanting to be insatiable." As late as February1March, Xianfeng ordered Tan Ting, governor of Zhili, and others to "keep quiet and take strict precautions at all important checkpoints in Haikou."
After the end of April, the enemy troops gathered outside the Baihekou. Britain and France negotiated through Russian special envoy Puyatine to explore the opportunity to invade Baihe and Tianjin. Emperor Xianfeng pinned his hopes on the "mediation" of the "neutral" American and Russian envoys, while Tan Tingxiang, the governor of Zhili, adhered to the emperor's will of "not firing first" and failed to effectively stop the enemy's provocation.
As of May 19, more than 30 ships from Britain, France and the United States have sailed out of Dagukou. The number of British and French allied forces is less than 3,000, far less than the number of British troops who committed the Yangtze River in the First Opium War. However, the invaders deceived a considerable number of "Chao Yong", and their help should not be underestimated.
At 8 o'clock on the morning of May 20th, Erjin and Ge Luo issued an ultimatum, demanding that the envoys of the four countries go to Tianjin, and ordered the Qing army to hand over the Dagu Fort within two hours. Otherwise it will be occupied by force. In fact, before this, the British and French allied forces had drawn up an attack plan: First, they attacked through the cannons of gunboats. Second, the landing troops were divided into two roads and occupied in the city.
The first group, under the command of Navy Colonel Tuion, consists of the British Cormorant and the French Grape and Rocket. In the second group, the French fleet was commanded by Captain Frinault, Avalanches and dragoons, and the British fleet Namro.
The British and French Coalition forces are going to let the first group attack the battery on the south or right bank, and the other group attack the battery on the left or north bank. Two groups of people will act at the same time. After the Allies occupied the forts on the north and south banks, their gunboats sailed along the Baihe River to Donggu, burned the pontoon bridge and occupied Donggu and Xigu villages.
On May 24th, Tan Tingxiang fled back to Tianjin, and Zhang Dianyuan and his gang retreated outside Tianjin. On the 26th, "the ship went straight to Jincheng". British and French forces invaded Tianjin and threatened to capture Beijing. The Qing government soon sent Gui Liang, a college student, and Huaxia Na, an official minister, as imperial envoys to Tianjin for negotiations. In June, Tianjin Treaty was signed with Russia, the United States, Britain and France respectively.
It turns out that gunpowder is one of the four great inventions of China people. Our clumsy iron cannon spewed out a string of iron bumps of different sizes, and even if it hit the other side's target, it could only land on the iron gunboat, smashing several holes that could not hurt the enemy's vitality at all. The failure of Dagukou Defence War made the great country lose face and the people had no wall to help.
The failure of the Battle of Dagu forced Emperor Xianfeng to admit that there was indeed a big gap between the military strength of the Qing government and the British and French aggressors. So, in August 1858, he appointed Sengqin as an imperial envoy and went to Dagu Lake and other places to strengthen coastal defense and rebuild the defense system of Dagu Lake, including the battery.
There are two old castles on the north and south banks of Dagukou, which were built in 18 17. Nanbao is 5 meters high, 3 meters wide and 2 meters deep, while Beibao is smaller. From 1840 to 10, Naer Jingu, who succeeded the governor of Zhili, decided to build three other forts, two on the south bank and one on the north bank, because the old fort was in disrepair and far from the water source.
These three fortresses are all made of masonry, 5.3 meters high, 40 meters wide and 26 meters deep. There is a 12 earth fort in front of the platform. The old fort on the south bank has been repaired and strengthened. At this time, there are five main fortresses, three on the south bank and two on the north bank, with earth dams in front.
An earth battery is built at the interval of the main battery, and an earth dam is built in front of it. Add an armory near the battery. While building the fort, the newly cast and distributed artillery ranged from 10,000 Jin to several hundred Jin, and 344 guns were put in place one after another. At this time, Dagukou battery presents completely different characteristics from other batteries.
In the ninth year of Xianfeng (1859), the British, French and American allied forces invaded Dagukou, Tianjin, with more than 20 ships and more than 2,000 people under the pretext of Beijing's change of contract, and stirred up trouble again. /kloc-on 0/7, Herbert, commander of the British navy in China, led the fleet and several French warships to Dagukou.
The British * * * sent 20 steam gunboats and troop carriers, including Goofy, Cormorant, Possum, Forrest and Noble, with guns 168 and 2 146 soldiers. There are also the steam cruiser Dixiela and the steam gunboat Noel zagara, with 50 cannons and 60 soldiers. In addition, three American ships, including the East Instrument King, also came to the rescue.
On the 22nd, when Emperor Xianfeng learned that the British and French allied forces had arrived outside Dagukou, he adopted the advice of Monk Qin and asked the British and French envoys to land from Beitang Haikou and enter Beijing to change the contract. However, the British and French allied forces were unwilling to obey the arrangement of the Qing government and insisted on driving the warships directly to Beijing by water.
The Qing army guarding Dagu said to the British and French troops, "Now Dagu Haikou has been losing equipment. If it is easily populated, it may cause accidental injury." However, the British and French aggressor troops still go their own way. At dawn on June 25th, Herb led 13 allied ships to Haikou from the waters about 13 kilometers away from the sand battery in the river, and all gunboats were moored in the waters not far from Tiekun.
Herb's battle plan is to let the gunboat cross the Hengjiang chain and occupy the position above the battery, so that it can be attacked from both sides. Then, under the cover of the ship, the marines landed from the front. Take the fortress quickly. After the Allied Fleet completed its mission, Herb sent a British possum ship and several gunboats to forcibly dismantle the iron fence in Haikou and open a passage.
At this time, the Qing army in Daguhai was "still forbearing and waiting quietly". At about 3 pm, the first obstacle in Haikou was destroyed. Buhe immediately ordered the "Possum" to navigate, and the rest of the ships followed closely, advancing on the anchor chain across Haikou and firing at the forts on both sides. The Qing army, which is guarding Taiwan, has been depressed for a long time and it is difficult to stop it. The size of the artillery positions of each battalion will be bombarded with a sound. "
Because "the fence is deep enough to resist" and "the gates of each battery should be properly destroyed and bombarded". The artillery fire of the defenders can give full play to their power. Shi Rongchun and Long Ruyuan directed the artillery companies on the north and south sides to concentrate their fire on Buhe's flagship. Shortly after the battle, Captain Larson, the flagship captain of the Allied Forces, and many others were killed and Herb was seriously injured.
By 4 pm, almost all allied warships were injured. The flagship crane bird was destroyed, and only one of the 40 sailors on board dived to escape. The gunboats Chaying and Shelter were sunk, and several gunboats such as Cormorant ran aground. Herb was forced to flee to the French ship Dixiela.
At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Herb still refused to give up and gave the order to land. After the invading army landed, on the one hand, it was killed by gunfire. On the one hand, it is difficult to crawl in the mud, and the situation is very embarrassing. At this time, Sange Jinqin mobilized the serial bombardment of old guns and black guns. Allied forces suffered heavy casualties and had to stop moving forward and lurk behind trenches and mounds.
At dusk, the Coalition forces used the night to "pounce on the ground" and the defenders of the battery "sprayed with incendiary bombs". Every time the fire comes on, they catch a glimpse of the barbarian, that is, fire. Under the shooting of the defenders, the "exhausted" Coalition forces had to retreat to Haikou and climb the boat to escape from the battlefield.
After a fierce battle day and night, the British and French allied forces suffered a crushing defeat and had to withdraw south. Of the thirteen British warships that took part in the war, six lost their combat effectiveness and four were sunk or destroyed. About 1200 British troops took part in the war, with 578 casualties. About 60 French troops took part in the war, with casualties 14, and the allied forces were defeated.
When the news of the fiasco of the British and French allied forces in Dagukou reached London, the British bourgeoisie immediately called for "massive revenge". They threatened: "Great Britain should attack the coastal areas of China, occupy the capital and expel the emperor from the palace", and "China people should be educated to attach importance to the British, who are superior to China people and should be the masters of China people".
He also said that after taking Beijing, he would occupy Guangzhou forever and turn it into the commercial center of Britain in the Far East, so as to "lay the foundation for the new territory". 1859 In September, the British government held four emergency cabinet meetings, and under the planning of Bamazun, it decided to expand the war of aggression against China again. After bargaining, Britain and France finally decided to act together.
In June1859165438+10, Britain and France appointed Elgin and Gro as extraordinary and plenipotentiaries, and Grant and Montaubin as commander-in-chief of the allied forces. Among them, there are about18,000 British troops and 7,000 French troops, and many Guangdong "bandits" are employed. 1In the spring of 860, Grant and Montoban led the British and French fleets to assemble in Shanghai respectively, and then they started the third northward invasion.
However, it was nearly a year from the Qing army's victory in Dagu to the third invasion of Britain and France. The Qing court was mainly busy suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and paid insufficient attention to the defense of Haikou. Under the grim situation that the British and French allied forces blocked the Bohai Bay, Emperor Xianfeng still believed that Haikou had a good layout. Last year, the allied forces were attacked, "there may not be no jealousy."
In the face of the armed attack organized by the British and French aggressors again, Emperor Xianfeng repeatedly instructed Senggelinqin that "it is always important to appease the situation" and "you should not be greedy for perfection and sow discord, which will lead to the mistake of the country". As a result, the British and French allied forces landed from Beitang, attacked Yingcheng and Kexin River, outflanked Dagu Road, went down to Tongzhou, captured Tianjin, and finally broke the capital.