the first Opium War

In the winter of 1838 (the 18th year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty), Emperor Daoguang sent Lin Zexu, the governor of Huguang, as an imperial envoy to Guangdong to ban opium. In March of the following year, after Lin took office, Yan Xing seized more than 20,000 boxes of opium and destroyed them all at Humen Haikou. The British government used this as an excuse to decide to send an expeditionary force to invade China, and the British Parliament also passed a funding bill for the war against China. In June 1840, 47 British ships and 4000 Army personnel, led by Rear Admiral Yilu and Commerce Supervisor Yilu in China, successively arrived outside the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong to blockade Haikou. The Opium War began.

In August 1840, the British ship arrived outside Dagu, Tianjin. Emperor Daoguang intimidated the army, removed Lin Zexu, and reassigned Qishan, the governor of Zhili, as the imperial minister. At the same time, the British side also agreed to go south to Guangdong for negotiations due to the epidemic, and autumn and winter were approaching.

In December 1840, Qi Shan and Yi Lu began negotiations in Guangdong. On January 7, 1841, the British Army was dissatisfied with the progress of the negotiations and dispatched the Navy and Army to capture the first gateway of Humen-Shajiao and Dajiao Fort, and launched the Battle of Humen. On January 27, Emperor Daoguang heard the news and ordered a declaration of war against Britain. He sent Qishan, the minister of the bodyguard, as the general of the rebellion, and dispatched more than 10,000 troops from various places to Guangdong. On February 26, the British Army dispatched the Navy and Army to break through the fortresses on the front line of Humen Ranch and the Dahushan Fort, and marched straight to Guangzhou along the Pearl River. Guan Tianpei, the commander of the Guangdong Navy, fought hard and died for the country. On May 24, the British army launched an attack on Guangzhou, occupying the Shangguan in the southwest of the city, landing on the northwest of the city, flanking the highlands in the north, capturing various fortresses in the northeast of the city, and shelling Guangzhou City. Under this situation, Qishan and others accepted the British conditions and paid a silver of 6 million yuan in exchange for the withdrawal of the British army from the Guangzhou area. The atrocities of the British invaders aroused people in Sanyuanli, a northern suburb of the city, to spontaneously arm themselves to fight against Britain.