1In June, 840, the British "Oriental Expeditionary Force" which invaded China arrived in China one after another. On July 4th, 26 British ships invaded Dinghai Port. Yao, then the magistrate of Dinghai County, said to all those who opposed him:
"I am the Secretary of Homeland Security, so I should be fearless." Then he boarded the British ship "Willie Shili" with Luo, a guerrilla of China Battalion, and questioned why the British ship invaded our territory. The British general took out a prepared note in Chinese characters and threatened to surrender. Yao said, "Although you are strong and we are weak, we will not surrender. If you want to attack, we will fight to the end. " After the protest failed, Yao returned to the city to discuss the defense plan with the company commander of the navy, and sent the classical historian Quan Fu to the countryside to recruit rural volunteers to help defend the city. On the afternoon of July 5, the British ship launched an attack, and the China sand boat and 10 guns on the shore immediately responded, but they were quickly suppressed, and Zhang Chaofa was injured and fell into the water. After the British landed, they attacked the city overnight. Yao sat in the south of the city and stood by for help. The next morning, one corner of Yao was blown down by British artillery fire, and Yao's arm was injured. Soon, the British army broke through the East Gate. Yao retired to Longfeng Mountain in the north of the city and died for his country. Quan Fu, a classical historian, was captured and unyielding, calling him a thief and died. On that day, many soldiers and civilians in Dinghai died one after another, unwilling to be humiliated by the invaders. Li Changda, secretary of Zhongying, was martyred in the pool, and his wife Fang Shi was also martyred.
After the British occupied Dinghai, they raped and plundered and committed all kinds of evils. The people of Dinghai are United as one enemy, and they have taken up home-made weapons one after another and used the advantage of being familiar with the local terrain to beat the enemy. "Plows and hoes can be soldiers; Women, old and young, know how to kill the enemy. " This was a slogan widely circulated among the people at that time. On September 16 this year, Bao Zucai, a farmer from Qingling, saw a British officer with a copper gauge paper and pencil in his hand, surveying the terrain outside Qingling, accompanied by several soldiers, and immediately gathered villagers, waving hoes and sticks and forcing them into the valley. Farmers lurking in the mountains shouted gongs and threw stones, and a British soldier was knocked down on the spot. When the British officer fled westward across the Qinling Mountains, he fell into a paddy field. Bao Zucai and the villagers swarmed, tied him tightly with ropes, and escorted him to the Qing army camp in Zhenhai by boat. After interrogation, the British officer's name was Antud, and he was a captain. Returning this person later became an important condition for the British troops to withdraw from Zhoushan during the Sino-British negotiations.
The people of Dinghai fought against Britain not only in the countryside, but also at sea.
On September 18, a boat carrying an Englishman met a fishing boat at sea. The British asked the fishermen to take them to Dinghai, saying that they would be rewarded afterwards. The boatman pretended to promise, but took them to the place where they should be captured. The prisoners include a British navy major. Going deep into the cities occupied by the British army to kill the enemy made the British army tremble with fear. Xu Shidong's Collected Works of Yuyanlou recorded a scene in which two British soldiers patrolled the street at night and walked into an alley, just talking and laughing. Suddenly, the British soldiers walking in front found that everyone behind them was silent. Looking back, he saw that his companion had lost his mind and fell to the ground, suddenly standing there stiffly. At this time, the British soldier's head was cut off by villagers lurking in the city.
In addition to guerrilla warfare against the enemy, the people of Dinghai are also stubborn and clean, refusing to supply food, vegetables and fish to the enemy, blocking wells and polluting water sources. The British army lamented: "It's impossible to see a China person on the street and want to eat something fresh", and it only occupied an empty city. Both the traitor and the comprador were arrested. Budingbang, a traitor and comprador who accompanied the British army from Guangzhou to Dinghai, was captured by villagers while collecting food for the British army.
Under the heroic resistance of Zhoushan people, the life of the British army in Dinghai became more and more difficult. A British soldier named Bingham wrote down the situation at that time:
"There is an epidemic in Zhoushan ... 300-400 people have been buried, and about 1500 people are in the hospital ... There is no doubt that this phenomenon is due to the lack of fresh and beneficial food, which makes the soldiers vulnerable to malaria and fever prevalent here ..." On February 25th, 2008, +084 1, the British troops left Dinghai. However, in September of that year, the British army invaded Dinghai again with 29 ships.
Previously, the company commanders Ge, Wang Xipeng and Zheng had led 3000 troops to receive Dinghai. After Ge came to Dinghai, he built Zhenyuan Fort and Tucheng, trying his best to prepare for defense. In April this year, when Yu Qian, the governor of the two rivers and an imperial envoy, went to Dinghai to inspect the defense, he saw that Ge only ate "a piece of millet, a plate of dried vegetables and an altar of mustard soup" and said with concern: "The imperial court gave the general commander a good salary. Why are you so poor? " Ge Yun Fei said: "The British are still alive, even if they are fat and crisp, they can't eat in the end." During this period, he also wrote Song of Bao Dao, which entrusted him with his determination and courage to kill the enemy with patriotism. The poem reads: "The wind is getting faster and faster, the snow is getting brighter and brighter, and the hatred of beheading courtiers and the desire for enemy blood!" Sometimes it is brave to get on a horse and kill a thief, but it is fierce to destroy this dynasty! Whoo-hoo! Men are warm-hearted. "On September 20th, British ships arrived in Zhoushan waters one after another. On the 26th, four British ships broke into Zhushanmen Gate in Dinghai for a tentative attack. Ge immediately rode along Tucheng to Zhushanmen. Along the way, he warned the soldiers not to fire casually before the enemy ship entered the range, so as not to expose their firepower. Shortly after Ge arrived at Zhushanmen Fort, he saw the British ship coming to the shore. He personally fired a shot and hit the head mast of the nearest British ship offshore, killing more than 10 British soldiers. With a genial smile, the British army withdrew from Zhushanmen.
Ge estimated that the enemy would turn to Donggangpu in the east and immediately informed the guerrillas to prepare for the enemy. As expected, the British ship really advanced on Donggang Pu, and the enemy and I fought fiercely. Although the British artillery fire was fierce and the shells had a long range, the Qing army repelled the British attack with the help of Tucheng. At three or four o'clock the next morning, the British ship fired again at dark in an attempt to break through the Tucheng defense line. General Yun Fei ordered the battalions to fire and bash. At noon, the British army was defeated again. At this time, the situation becomes more critical. Ge sent someone to sneak out of the port and ask Zhenhai camp for help, and said to his men, "We won the battle of Dinghai and killed many enemies. It can be said that we are extremely brave. I hope everyone will work harder and kill the enemy. " The British army failed to attack the tucheng in the south of the city several times. On the third day, he turned to attack Xiaofengling, the commanding height of the west. At night, it occupied Wukui Mountain in the south of the city. A large number of British soldiers landed reinforcements, but the Qing army reinforcements did not arrive. On the fourth day, the British army installed three heavy artillery companies on Wukui Mountain in an attempt to bomb Tucheng from the commanding heights. Ge Yunfei took advantage of the fact that the enemy battery had not been built, and commanded the soldiers to fire and bombard, which made the British plan fail again. When the British army failed to make a plan, it made a plan to let all kinds of ships sail to the sea near the beach and shell the Tucheng. In the fierce fire of the enemy, Ge Yunfei saw a British officer in red standing on the beach waving a flag and commanding, and immediately ordered the officer in red to fire. When the officer in red was shot down, the British army immediately panicked and dragged the body overboard. This day's battle ended in the defeat of the enemy.
On the fifth day of the battle, the Qing army was in a very critical and extremely difficult situation. That day, it rained for a day and a night, and the defenders far away from the barracks could hardly find a place to make a fire and cook. Each soldier can only get six sweet cake and nine light cakes a day, which is less than half a catty of food. Zhoushan people learned that the defenders in Dinghai were hungry and cold, and risked their lives to send food to the position. They also specially sent a bowl of ginseng soup to Ge Yunfei. Ge said with tears: "Ge, as an official guarding the country, could not expel the British and foreigners, which made them so rampant. How can he meet my parents? " He sprinkled ginseng soup in a small river near Tucheng, and then loudly said to the soldiers, "You and Ge have been fighting hard for many days. Please * * * drink this water, let's share weal and woe and try to kill the enemy! " Seeing this, the soldiers burst into tears and repelled many British attacks.
On the morning of the sixth day, under the cover of heavy fog, the British army rushed out and attacked Tucheng, Xiaofengling and Zhushanmen all the way, launching an all-out attack. Wang Xipeng, the company commander guarding Xiaofeng Ridge, commanded the soldiers to repel the enemy's attacks nine times. All the barrels were red and could not hold ammunition, so they fought hand-to-hand with the British. Wang Xipeng rushed to the right and killed many people. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by British artillery fire and died heroically. All his officers and men were killed. After the fall of Xiaofengling, the British troops there attacked Zhushanmen separately. Company commander Zheng led the soldiers to fight tenaciously from morning till night. There were more and more British troops, and shells rained down on the positions of the Qing army. Zheng fell in a pool of blood in the explosion. Soon, Zhushanmen also fell.
The news of the fall of Xiaofeng Mountain and Zhushanmen reached the Dongyue Mountain Fort at the headquarters of the Qing army. Ge Yunfei said to a comrade-in-arms: "It's time to die for our country! If you can come home alive, please comfort my 80-year-old mother and tell my children to inherit my father's unfinished business. " At this time, a large number of British troops approached the fortress along Tucheng, and were attacked on three sides by British ships moored at sea and British artillery teams on Wukui Mountain. Ge Yunfei ordered the remaining 200 officers and men to guard in sections. The British army swarmed like wild bees, and Ge Yunfei took the lead in hand-to-hand combat with the British army. He was injured in more than 40 places all over his body, but he still insisted on fighting. Suddenly, Ge Yunfei was shot in the left eye and his face was split open by the British army, bleeding profusely. He fell from Tucheng and died heroically.
The battle lasted for six days and six nights, and more than 5,000 Qing troops shed blood and died in desperate resistance. This was the most fierce battle of the Qing army in the Opium War.
Since then, the British once again colonized Zhoushan, doing whatever they wanted, and the people suffered greatly. On June 7th, 1842, 36 Ao people from Dinghai County gathered in the temple, made Qi Xin's pledge to kill the enemy, and published a 2000-word "Confessions of Dinghai County People". People from all over Zhoushan have organized boats, rudders, cannons and brave men to attack the enemies in the city, at sea and in the suburbs. A British officer confessed: "Until the end of the war, it was hard to say that we really occupied it except in cities and coastal areas. If there is no strong military escort, we will die outside the East Gate if we leave. Out of the west gate, he was caught outside the west gate. Many soldiers lost their lives. " 100 years have passed, and the loyalty of our ancestors to the motherland still inspires people today. Zhoushan Opium War Memorial Hall, built on the site of Dinghai Defence War, people cherish the memory of martyrs day after day. ...
The British occupied Zhoushan for a long time.
Old saying: In the past, most historians agreed with Wei Yuan, a thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, and Liang Tingyi, a writer in the Qing Dynasty. Wei Yuan said in "Invasion of Foreign Ships": "Foreign ships have been in Guangdong for more than ten days, and there is no gap to take advantage of, so they can take the wind to the provinces"; Liang Tingyi said in Strange Tales: "A strange ship sailed around the ocean, knowing that it had no opportunity, and waiting for its plan, so it sailed to Zhejiang." Both described the British invasion of Zhoushan as an act of waiting for an opportunity after Guangdong and Fujian hit a wall. Some textbooks also adopt this statement. For example, the fourth volume of the textbook "Society" for junior middle schools of compulsory education in Zhejiang Province records: "Because the military and civilians in Guangdong are heavily guarded, the British army has no opportunity, so it invaded Xiamen from the northern coast and was repelled by the local military and civilians. The British army invaded Zhejiang in the north and captured the empty sea. "
New viewpoint: Based on the historical data collected in Zhoushan, Ye Xin wrote in Unyielding to the Sea: "19th century, Zhoushan's military strategic position is particularly important for Britain eager to expand outward. They believe that Zhoushan Archipelago is the middle section between Guangzhou and Beijing, close to the estuary of several navigable rivers, which can provide a suitable place for the expeditionary force to set up its headquarters. Therefore, since 1700, Britain has repeatedly asked the China government to set up a commercial pavilion, cede the island and open Zhoushan as a trading port, showing a strong desire for Zhoushan Islands. " After their unreasonable demands were flatly rejected by the Qing Dynasty, 1840, the British government launched the Opium War and brazenly issued an order to occupy Zhoushan Islands. 1In April of 840, the British Expeditionary Force consisted of more than 4,000 people. According to the battle plan carefully deployed by the British government, a small number of warships were left to block the Pearl River and contain Xiamen. Commander Bomai led 29 ships into Dinghai waters.
The battle to defend Dinghai is the most tragic.
Old saying: During the Opium War, there were 10 battles and battles. According to some historical data, the battle of Zhenjiang was one of the fiercest, and both China and Britain suffered the heaviest casualties. "... caused a lot of casualties to the British army, unprecedented in the Opium War ... * * * 37 people were killed, 128 people were injured and 3 people were missing". (Yao Weiyuan, People's Publishing House 1984 Edition "Historical Textual Research on the Opium War")
New viewpoint: Historical materials collected in Zhoushan show that the second battle of defending Dinghai was the most intense battle in the whole Opium War. Wang Zhecheng described in Zhushanmen that the second dinghai campaign lasted six days and six nights from September 26th 184 1 year to June 26th1year. In the first five days, the British army failed in every attack. Although the Qing army lags far behind the British in weapons and military technology, it can still unite as one and share the same enemy. "A bloody battle of six days and nights to defend Dinghai is a battle with the largest number of participants, the largest scale, the longest exchange of fire and the heaviest casualties. On the same day, three company commanders, Ge, Wang Xipeng and Zheng, died, and all their 5,800 defenders surrendered. The soldiers died and their loyal souls were revealed. Up to now, on Zhushanmen, the graves of unknown soldiers killed in battle can still be seen everywhere. "
Chen Yuanbin wrote in Ding Hai's Six Days and Nights Against Britain, "Although the British captured Ding Hai who had been coveted for a long time, they paid a heavy price in the bloody battle for six days and nights: only 4 16 bodies were buried in the Xiaying Tomb of Dongyue Mountain outside Ding Hai."
Dinghai fought against Britain earlier than Sanyuanli.
Old saying: Some textbooks and historical materials believe that the people's anti-British struggle that broke out in Sanyuanli, Guangzhou on May 30th,184/0/was the first spontaneous anti-aggression struggle of China people in modern times. "Around Sanyuanli 103 Township, about 7,000 people besieged the British army in Niulangang area and attacked the British army with avalanche, causing heavy casualties and fleeing in haste." (Excerpted from the fourth volume of Society, a junior high school textbook for compulsory education in Zhejiang Province) "The struggle in Sanyuanli shows for the first time in the modern history of China that only the broad masses of the people have the power to oppose the aggression of foreign capitalist imperialism". (Excerpted from "From the Opium War to the May 4th Movement" edited by Hu Sheng)
New viewpoint: July 1840, "After the British occupied Dinghai, the people of Dinghai rose up and rebelled, with deep pockets and boundless strength, throwing bricks and stones, polluting water sources and clearing the field. The British army can't get fresh food and clean drinking water, and epidemics are prevalent among officers and men. From July to 65438+February, in just half a year, a total of 4,000 occupation troops suffered more than 5,000 deaths. On September 16, in autumn, Captain Antude of British army surveyed the terrain on Qingling 'ao in the northwest of Dinghai City, and stole a map, which was discovered by Bao Zu, a villager in Qingling Village, Yancang, Dinghai. Bao Zucai rang the gong to gather the villagers, and together with his brother Bao Yasi, he captured Antude alive. The villagers were in high spirits and escorted Antud to the Qing army camp. This prisoner has become one of the important conditions for future Sino-British negotiations. " "Haicheng was occupied by the British for the second time. The unyielding Zhoushan people rose up in succession and fought bravely to defend the motherland. On June 7th, 1842, 36 Ao people from Dinghai County gathered in the temple, made an oath, and published a 2000-word "People's Confession of Dinghai County", calling on all Zhoushan people to take action against Qixin British Army. The people of the whole country formed the boat brave, the rudder brave, the gun brave and the water brave to stop the British army in the city, at sea and in the suburbs and wait for an opportunity to kill the enemy. The morale of the British invaders is getting lower every day, and the situation is becoming more passive and difficult every day. Finally, the British army was forced to withdraw from Dinghai again. " (Excerpted from Ye Xin's prose "Unyielding Dinghai")
This action against the British army actually surpassed the famous "Sanyuanli" incident in time, scale and record.