Editing First Opium War (section)

=== Pearl River campaign ===
While the British campaigned in the north, Qing Admiral Guan Tianpei greatly reinforced the Qing positions in Humen (Bocca Tigris), suspecting that the British would attempt to force their way up the Pearl River to Guangzhou; sources state that Guan had been preparing for an eventual attack on the position since Napier's attack in 1835. The Humen forts blocked transit of the river, and were garrisoned with 3000 men and 306 cannons. By the time the British fleet was ready for action, 10,000 Qing soldiers were in position to defend Guangzhou and the surrounding area.<ref>{{harvp|Mao|2016|pp=200–204}}</ref> The British fleet arrived in early January, and began to bombard the Qing defences at Chuenpi after a group of Chinese fire-rafts were sent drifting towards the Royal navy ships.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

[[File:Attack and capture of Chuenpee 2.jpg|thumb|The [[Second Battle of Chuenpi]]]]

On 7 January 1841, the British won a decisive victory in the [[Second Battle of Chuenpi]], destroying 11 Junks of the Chinese southern fleet and capturing the Humen forts. The victory allowed the British to set up a blockade of The Bogue, a blow that forced the Qing navy to retreat upriver.<ref name="MacPherson-1843">MacPherson 1843, pp. 312, 315–316.</ref>{{better source needed|reason=only primary source provided from one side|date=February 2022}}

Knowing the strategic value of [[Pearl River Delta]] to China and aware that British naval superiority made a reconquest of the region unlikely, Qishan attempted to prevent the war from widening further by negotiating a peace treaty with Britain.<ref name="Dillon-2010">Dillon (2010) p. 55</ref> On 21 January Qishan and Elliot drafted the [[Convention of Chuenpi]], a document which both parties hoped would end the war.<ref name="Dillon-2010" /><ref name="BSI-1841">''Bulletins of State Intelligence''&nbsp;1841, p. 32</ref> The convention would establish equal diplomatic rights between Britain and China, exchange [[Hong Kong Island]] for [[Zhoushan]], facilitate the release of shipwrecked and kidnapped British citizens held by the Chinese, and reopen trade in Guangzhou by 1 February 1841.<ref name="BSI-1841" /> China would also pay six million silver dollars as recompense for the opium destroyed at Humen in 1838. However, the legal status of the opium trade was not resolved and instead left open to be discussed at a future date. Despite the success of the negotiations between Qishan and Elliot, both of their respective governments refused to sign the convention. The Daoguang Emperor was infuriated that Qing territory would be given up in a treaty that had been signed without his permission, and ordered Qishan arrested (he was later sentenced to death; the sentence was then commuted to military service.) Lord Palmerston recalled Elliot from his post and refused to sign the convention, wanting more concessions to be forced from the Chinese per his original instructions.<ref name="Glenn Melancon 1840, pp 854-874" />{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}}<ref name="Hummel-1943" />{{page needed|date=September 2021}}

[[File:British ships in Canton.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|British ships approaching Guangzhou in May 1841]]The brief interlude in the fighting ended in the beginning of February after the Chinese refused to reopen Guangzhou to British trade. On 19 February a longboat from HMS ''Nemesis'' came under fire from a fort on [[North Wangtong Island]], prompting a British response.<ref>''Bulletins of State Intelligence''&nbsp;1841, pp. 329–330</ref> The British commanders ordered another blockade of the Pearl River and resumed combat operations against the Chinese. The British captured the remaining Bogue forts on 26 February during the [[Battle of the Bogue]] and the [[Battle of First Bar]] on the following day, allowing the fleet to move further upriver towards Guangzhou.<ref>Bingham. pp. 69–70</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=March 2022}}<ref name="Dillon-2010" /> Admiral Tianpei was killed in action during the fighting on 26 February. On 2 March the British destroyed a Qing fort near [[Pazhou]] and [[Battle of Whampoa|captured Whampoa]], an action that directly threatened Guangzhou's east flank.<ref>Perdue, Peter C. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011. MIT Visualizing Cultures). p. 15.</ref><ref name="Bingham 1842 73 74">Bingham 1842, pp. 73–74</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=March 2022}} Major General Gough, who had recently arrived from [[Madras]] aboard {{HMS|Cruizer|1828|6}}, personally directed the attack on Whampoa. Superintendent Elliot (who was unaware that he had been dismissed), and the Governor-General of Guangzhou declared a 3-day truce on 3 March. Between the 3rd and the 6th the British forces that had evacuated Zhoushan per the Convention of Chuenpi arrived in the Pearl River. The Chinese military was likewise reinforced, and by 16 March General Yang Fang commanded 30,000 men in the area surrounding Guangzhou.<ref name="McPherson-2013">McPherson, Carruthers (2013) pp. 54–55, 60</ref>

While the main British fleet prepared to sail up the Pearl River to Guangzhou, a group of three warships departed for the [[Xi River]] estuary, intending to navigate the waterway between Macau and Guangzhou. The fleet, led by [[James Scott (Royal Navy officer)|Captain James Scott]] and Superintendent Elliot, was composed of the frigate {{HMS|Samarang|1822|6}} and the steamships ''HMS Nemesis'' and {{HMS|Atalanta| 1836|6}}.<ref>Bernard, Hall (1847) p. 138</ref> Although the waterway was in places only 6 feet deep, the shallow [[Draft (hull)|draft]]s of the steamships allowed the British to approach Guangzhou from a direction the Qing believed to be impossible.<ref>Bernard, Hall (1844) pp. 378</ref> In a series of engagements along the river from 13 to 15 March, the British captured or destroyed Chinese ships, guns, and military equipment. 9 junks, 6 fortresses, and 105 guns were destroyed or captured in what was known as the [[Broadway expedition]].<ref name="Bernard-1847">Bernard, Hall (1847) pp. 138–148</ref>{{page range too broad|date=September 2021}}

[[File:Canton River and adjacent islands.jpg|thumb|left|British map of the Pearl River]]
With the Pearl River cleared of Chinese defences, the British debated advancing on Guangzhou. Although the truce had ended on 6 March, Superintendent Elliot believed that the British should negotiate with the Qing authorities from their current position of strength rather than risk a battle in Guangzhou. The Qing army made no aggressive moves against the British and instead began to fortify the city. Chinese military engineers began to establish a number of mud earthworks on the riverbank, sank junks to create [[blockship]]s on the river, and started constructing [[Fire ship|fire rafts]] and gunboats. Chinese merchants were ordered to remove all of the silk and tea from Guangzhou to impede trade, and the local populace was barred from selling food to the British ships on the river.<ref>Bernard, Hall (1844) p. 369</ref> On 16 March a British ship approaching a Chinese fort under a flag of truce was fired upon, leading to the British setting the fort on fire with rockets. These actions convinced Elliot that the Chinese were preparing to fight, and following the return of the ships of the Broadway expedition to the fleet, the British [[Battle of Canton (March 1841)|attacked Guangzhou]] on 18 March, taking the Thirteen Factories with very few casualties and raising the [[Union Jack]] above the British factory.<ref name="Dillon-2010" /> The city was partially occupied by the British and trade was reopened after negotiation with the ''Cohong'' merchants. After several days of further military successes, British forces commanded the high ground around Guangzhou. Another truce was declared on 20 March. Against the advice of some of his captains, Elliot withdrew most of the Royal Navy warships downriver to the Bocca Tigris.<ref name="McPherson-2013" /><ref name="Fay-2000i" />

[[File:Canton from the Heights.jpg|thumb|Sketch of British soldiers occupying the high ground above Guangzhou in 1841]]
In mid-April, [[Yishan (official)|Yishan]] (Qishan's replacement as [[Viceroy of Liangguang]] and the Daoguang Emperor's cousin) arrived in Guangzhou. He declared that trade should continue to remain open, sent emissaries to Elliot, and began to gather military assets outside Guangzhou. The Qing army camped outside of the city soon numbered 50,000, and the money earned from the reopened trade was spent repairing and expanding Guangzhou's defences. Concealed artillery batteries were built along the Pearl River, Chinese soldiers were deployed in Whampoa and the Bocca Tigris, and hundreds of small river craft were armed for war. A bulletin sent from the Daoguang Emperor commanded the Qing forces to "Exterminate the rebels at all points", and orders were given to drive the British from the Pearl River before reclaiming Hong Kong and driving the invaders out of China altogether.<ref>McPherson, Carruthers (2013) p. 59</ref> This order was leaked and became widely circulated in Guangzhou among foreign merchants, who were already suspicious of Chinese intentions after learning of the Qing military build-up. In May many ''Cohong'' merchants and their families left the city, raising further concerns about a renewal of hostilities. Rumours spread that Chinese divers were being trained to drill holes in the hulls of British ships, and that fleets of fire rafts were being prepared for deployment against the Royal Navy.<ref>Bernard, Hall (1844) p. 435</ref> During the build-up, the Qing army was weakened by infighting between units and lack of confidence in Yishan, who openly distrusted Cantonese civilians and soldiers, instead choosing to rely on forces drawn from other Chinese provinces.<ref name="Lovell-2015">Lovell, Julia (2015).&nbsp;''The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China''. The Overlook Press.&nbsp;{{ISBN|1468311735}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=November 2021}} On 20 May, Yishan issued a statement, asking the "people of Canton, and all foreign merchants who are respectfully obedient, not to tremble with alarm and be frightened out of their wits at the military hosts that are gathering around, there being no probability of hostilities." The next day Elliot requested that all British merchants evacuate the city by sundown, and several warships were recalled to their positions in front of Guangzhou.<ref>McPherson, Carruthers (2013) p. 60</ref>

On the night of 21 May the Qing launched a coordinated night attack on the British army and navy.<ref name="MacPherson-1843" />{{better source needed|reason=only primary source provided from one side|date=February 2022}} Artillery batteries hidden in Guangzhou and on the Pearl River (many of which the British believed they had disabled earlier) opened fire, and Qing soldiers retook the British Factory. A large formation of 200 fire rafts connected by a chain was sent drifting towards the British ships at Guangzhou, and fishing boats armed with [[matchlock]]s began to engage the Royal Navy. The British warships were able to evade the attack, and stray rafts set Guangzhou's waterfront on fire, illuminating the river and foiling the night attack. Downriver at Whampoa the Chinese attacked the British vessels at anchor there and attempted to prevent ships from reaching Guangzhou. Having suspected an attack, and as a consequence delaying his own offensive, Major General Gough consolidated the British forces at Hong Kong and ordered a rapid advance upriver to Guangzhou. These reinforcements arrived on 25 May, and the British counter-attacked, taking the last four Qing forts above Guangzhou and bombarding the city.<ref name="MacPherson-1843" />

The Qing army fled in panic when the city heights were taken, and the British pursued them into the countryside. On 29 May a crowd of around 20,000 villagers and townspeople attacked and defeated a foraging company of 60 Indian [[sepoy]]s in what became known as the [[Sanyuanli Incident]], and Gough ordered a retreat back to the river. The fighting subsided on 30 May 1841, and Guangzhou came fully under British occupation.{{sfnb|Wakeman|1966|pp=11–14}}<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=J9Q1AAAAMAAJ ''Bulletins and Other State Intelligence'']. 1841 p. 686</ref><ref name="Dillon-2010" /> Following the capture of Guangzhou, the British command and the governor-general of Guangzhou agreed to a cease-fire in the region. Under the terms of the limited peace (later widely referred to as "The Ransom of Canton"), the British were paid to withdraw beyond the Bogue forts, an action they completed by 31 May.{{sfnb|Wakeman|1966|pp=11–14}} Elliott signed the peace treaty without consulting the British army or Navy, an act which displeased General Gough.<ref>Rait (1903) p. 193</ref>

The defence of Guangzhou was declared a diplomatic success by Yishan. In a letter to the emperor, he wrote that the barbarians had begged "the chief general that he would implore the great emperor in their behalf, that he would have mercy upon them, and cause their debts to be repaid them, and graciously permit them to carry on their commerce, when they would immediately withdraw their ships from the Bocca Tigris, and never dare again to raise any disturbance."<ref>Rait (1903) p. 203</ref> However, General Yang Fang was reprimanded by the emperor for his agreeing to a truce rather than forcefully resisting the British.<ref>Dillion (2010) p. 156</ref> The emperor was not informed the British expedition had not been defeated and was very much intact. The imperial court continued to debate China's next course of action for the war, as the Daoguang Emperor wanted Hong Kong retaken.<ref>Rait (1903) pp. 204, 205</ref>