Battle of Nanking (1856)

The Battle of Nanking (一破江南大營) ( or the Jiangnan Da Ying; (first：1853 - 1856 and second： 1857 - 1860). The Qing government raised the Green Standard Army to fight against the Taiping Rebellion. The Qing forces surrounded Nanjing (Taiping Rebellion capital).

First rout of the Jiangnan Army Group
1853--1856 After the Taiping Rebellion militia successfully occupied Nanjing, within 10 days, Xiang Rong commanded 10,000 Green Standard Army and stationed themselves outside the Nanjing wall.

The remnant Qing forces defending Nanjing were stationed in Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.

The Green Standard Army was led by First Class Senior General Xiang Rong(向榮), Second Class Senior General Her Chyun and Lieutenant General：Zhang GuoLiang. The leaders of the Taiping forces were Shi Dakai, Yang Xiuqing, Qin Rigang(秦日綱) and Li Xiucheng.

The regular Army numbered 80,000 and the Taiping Rebellion militia force had 460,000 militia.

Outcome
On June 1, 1856, the Nanjing army tried to stop Taiping forces but the Governor of Jiangsu Jeer Hungar(吉爾杭阿), Mayor of Nanjing and their entire army of 7,800 were totally wiped out.

The Qing army lost another battle later in the month and the remaining 36,000 retreated north. On August 9 Xiang Rong committed suicide by hanging himself, although others claimed he had a fatal overdose of Opium due to the pain of his battle wounds in Danyang.