Battle of Shanghai (1861)

The Battle of Shanghai (太平軍二攻上海) was a major engagement of the Taiping Rebellion that occurred from June 1861 to July 1862. British and French troops used modern artillery on a large scale for the first time in China. Cannon fire inflicted heavy casualties on the Taiping forces, whose commander Li Xiucheng was wounded in the left leg by a shot fired from a cannon.

Prelude
Shanghai had been occupied by the initial wave of the Taiping Rebellion in 1851 but was recovered by the Qing in February 1853.

In June 1860, a Taiping army of 20,000 led by Lai Wenguang had attacked Shanghai and reoccupied it for five months before withdrawing. In early 1861, Li Xiucheng was in control of Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, commanding over 600,000 Taiping troops. He aimed to capture the large but isolated city, one of the most important cities under the Qing government and home to an international port. At Li Xiucheng's request the UK and France had promised to maintain neutrality.

By 11 June 1861, the Taiping Army was able to muster five armies, commanded by Tan Shaoguang, Li Rongfa, G Qingyun, Chen Kunshu, and Chen Binwen, organized under two fronts, and other units.

The commander of the Imperial Green Standard Army was Huang Esen, under the direction of Shanghai's taotai Wu Shu (道台吳煦). The Huai Army militia were led by Li Hongzhang.

First stage
Taiping's Lieutenant General Li Rongfa began the battle with an invasion of Pudong by 20,000 men, transported in thousands of boats. On his occupation of the whole district, the city requested help from the English and French. In October (according to the Chinese calendar), the American Frederick Townsend Ward brought 2,000 Filipino and Chinese soldiers, whom he had trained, against the Taiping forces.

Following a fifteen-day Christmas ceasefire called by Li Rongfa, the government of Shanghai asked Beijing for assistance in December. In response the Huai Army with its 20,000 soldiers was sent to reinforce Shanghai immediately.

Middle stage
On 10 April 1862 (according to the Chinese calendar), Li Hongzhang was formally promoted to governor of Jiangsu. Five days later, the Huai Army began their counterattack on Shanghai.

At the same time, the mayor of Jinshan District commanded 5,000 men of the Green Standard Army to surround and attack the city of Taicang, which was then occupied by Taiping forces. Li Xiucheng sent 100,000 men to relieve Taicang on 19 April. Despite orders from Li Hongzhang to withdraw, the mayor refused to do so, resulting in the loss of his entire force.

On 29 April, Major General Chen Binwen occupied Jiading (嘉定), whose Qing garrison withdrew to Shanghai proper. The Taiping Army then prepared to attack Songjiang and northwestern Shanghai from Jiading. Li Hongzhang ordered Major General Cheng Xuechi, vice-commander of the Huai Army, to counterattack against Chen Binwen.

On 1 May, Li Rongfa's force surrendered to the Huai Army in Nanhui District. Li Hongzhang delegated Brigadier Liu Mingchuan to accept their surrender, provoking Li Ronfar to order Lieutenant General G Qingyun to make a series of attacks against Liu Mingchuan in the district. The failure of these attacks forced Li Ronfar to withdraw from Pudong on 10 May, ending nine months of occupation. The Qing government thus regained control of eastern and southern Shanghai.

On 8 May, Cheng Xuechi launched an assault on the Taiping forces occupying Songjiang, and expelled them after thirteen days of combat.

Last stage
In September 1862 a Taiping army of 80,000 soldiers under the command of Tan Shaoguang mounted a second attack on Shanghai, which was defended by Major General Guo Songlin (郭松林) of the Huai Army. The initial assault, led by Chen Binwen (陳炳文), faltered when Cheng Xuechi destroyed all twenty Taiping camps (one of which accommodated 500 soldiers); Chen Binwen retreated to Sijiangkou (四江口), where he joined Tan Shaoguang.

On 12 September, the consolidated Taiping forces, numbering 70,000, struck the Qing again from Taicang and Kunshan. Moving very rapidly, they reached Qingpu District, only 5 km from the city, and surrounded 20,000 imperial troops.

The Qing fleet commander Huang Esen counterattacked from the river, gaining some ground, but even after reinforcement by the Ever Victorious Army he was unable to make much progress. The Taiping forces used this time to build many floating bridges.

Li Hongzhang arrived to oversee the combat in person, ordering his generals (Cheng, Guo, and Liu) to defeat Tan and relieve the Imperial units surrounded by the Taiping on the northern coast before it was too late. On 21 September, Cheng Xuechi, commanding only 6,000 combined Huai Army and Qing naval forces, in eight successive attacks made between 8:00 and 14:00, was finally able to cut off the Taiping Army's retreat. The Huai Army were encouraged to break out of the enclave on the northern coast, destroying over 30,000 Taiping forces. Cheng himself received a serious gunshot wound to the chest, but was rewarded with a promotion to Lieutenant General.

General Tan, accompanied by Brigadier Gau Yonkwan (郜永寬), retreated to Suzhou to prepare its defences. The Taiping forces launched four more unsuccessful attacks against the defenders, after which Hong Xiuquan ordered the offensive to be halted and the forces to withdraw, thus ending the battle. The combined forces of the Qing government, the British, and the French were victorious, and Taiping permanently abandoned its designs on Shanghai.

Comment
Hong Rengan was very opposed to this battle, Hong thought Shanghai was not a military problem.