Editing First Opium War (section)

=== Opening moves ===
[[File:Volage & Hyacinth in Chuenpee.jpg|thumb|Engagement between British and Chinese ships in the First Battle of Chuenpi, 1839.]]The Chinese naval forces in Guangzhou were under the command of Admiral [[Guan Tianpei]], who had fought the British at Chuenpi. The Qing southern army and garrisons were under the command of [[Yang Fang (general)|General Yang Fang]]. Overall command was invested in the [[Daoguang Emperor]] and his court.<ref name="Janin-1999" /> The Chinese government initially believed that, as in the 1834 Napier Affair, the British had been successfully expelled.<ref name="Melancon-2003">{{Cite book |last=Glenn Melancon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V527VTyT29gC&pg=PA126 |title=Britain's China Policy and the Opium Crisis: Balancing Drugs, Violence and National Honour, 1833–1840 |publisher=Ashgate |year=2003 |isbn=978-0754607045 |page=126}}</ref> Few preparations were made for a British reprisal, and the events leading to the eventual outbreak of the [[Sino-Sikh War]] in 1841 were seen as a greater cause for concern.<ref name="Elliott-1990">Elliott, Mark (June 1990). "[http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/elliott/files/elliott_bannerman_and_townsman.pdf Bannerman and Townsman: Ethnic Tension in Nineteenth-Century Jiangnan]". ''Late Imperial China'' '''11''' (1): 51.</ref><ref name="Rubin-1960">The Sino-Indian Border Disputes, by Alfred P. Rubin, The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1. (Jan. 1960), pp. 96–125.</ref>{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}}

Left without a major base of operations in China, the British withdrew their merchant shipping from the region while maintaining the Royal Navy's China squadron in the islands around the mouth of the Pearl River. From London, Palmerston continued to dictate operations in China, ordering the East India Company to divert troops from India in preparation for a limited war against the Chinese. It was decided that the war would not be fought as a full-scale conflict, but rather as a [[punitive expedition]].<ref name="Westminster-1903" /><ref name="Glenn Melancon 1840, pp 854-874" />{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}} Superintendent Elliot remained in charge of Britain's interests in China, while [[Gordon Bremer|Commodore Gordon Bremer]] led the [[Royal Marines]] and the China Squadron. [[Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough|Major General Hugh Gough]] was selected to command the British land forces, and was promoted to overall commander of British forces in China.<ref>[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/19989/page/1583 "No. 19989"]. ''[[The London Gazette]]''. 18 June 1841. p. 1583.</ref> The cost of the war would be paid by the British Government.<ref name="Elleman-2001" />{{page needed|date=November 2021}}<ref name="Melancon-2003" /><ref>John K. Derden, "The British Foreign Office and Policy Formation: The 1840s," ''Proceedings & Papers of the Georgia Association of Historians'' (1981) pp. 64–79.</ref>{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Luscombe |first=Stephen |title=The British Empire, Imperialism, Colonialism, Colonies |url=http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armycampaigns/asia/china/opiumwar.htm |access-date=26 May 2017 |website=www.britishempire.co.uk}}</ref> Per Lord Palmerston's letter, plans were drawn up by the British to launch a series of attacks on Chinese ports and rivers.<ref>Rait (1903) p. 161</ref>

British plans to form an expeditionary force were started immediately after the January 1840 vote. Several infantry regiments were raised in the British isles, and the completion of ships already under construction was expedited. To conduct the upcoming war, Britain also began to draw on forces from its overseas empire.<ref name="Fay-2000k">Fay (2000) pp. 210–223</ref>{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}} British India had been preparing for a war since word had arrived that the opium had been destroyed, and several regiments of Bengali volunteers had been recruited to supplement the regular British Indian Army and East India Company forces. In terms of naval forces, the ships earmarked for the expedition were either posted in remote colonies or under repair, and [[Oriental Crisis of 1840]] (and the resulting risk of war between Britain, France, and the [[Ottoman Empire]] over Syria) drew the attention of the Royal Navy's European fleets away from China.<ref name="Fay-2000c" /> Orders were dispatched to British South Africa and Australia to send ships to Singapore, the assigned rendezvous point for the expedition. A number of steamers were purchased by the Royal Navy and attached to the expedition as transports. The unseasonable summer weather of India and the [[Strait of Malacca]] slowed the British deployment, and a number of accidents decreased the combat readiness of the expedition. Most notably, both of the 74-gun ships of the line that the Royal Navy intended to use against Chinese fortifications were temporarily put out of action by hull damage.<ref name="Fay-2000c" /> Despite these delays, by mid-June 1840 British forces had begun to assemble in Singapore. While they waited for more ships to arrive, the Royal Marines practised amphibious invasions on the beach, first by landing ashore in boats, then forming lines and advancing on mock fortifications.<ref name="Fay-2000c">Fay (2000) pp. 240–243</ref><ref name="Fay-2000k" />{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}}