Comrade | Guevara
During the reign of the Daoguang Emperor, the Qing Dynasty faced serious internal and external troubles, especially the harm caused by the Opium War. In the battle against the British invading army, a large number of patriotic martyrs who could sing and weep appeared, such as Guan Tianpei, Ge Yunfei and others, all of whom were national heroes who were admired by future generations. Among these people who sacrificed their lives for the country, the highest rank was Yu Qian, the governor of Liangjiang, who was also the only Qing Dynasty governor who was martyred in the Opium War. So, what are Yu Qian's commendable deeds in the Opium War? How did he end up martyred?
Yu Qian, formerly known as Yu Tai, Borjigit clan, Mongolian yellow flag man, Jiaqing twenty-two years (1817) examination in the middle of the jinshi, successively served as hanlin yuan Shu Jishi, head of the ceremonial department, yuanwailang and other positions. After serving in the capital for 9 years, Yu Qian was released as the prefect of Jingzhou, and for more than ten years, he successively served as the prefect of Wuchang, Jingyi Shidao, Jiangsu According to the envoy, Jiangsu cloth envoy and other positions, and by the nineteenth year of Daoguang (1839), he had been promoted to inspector of Jiangsu, thus entering the ranks of feudal officials. The following year, Yu Qian was promoted to the rank of Governor of Liangjiang, while still serving as the Governor of Jiangsu.
Yuyaku Images
During the reign of the Daoguang Emperor, around the question of whether the import of British opium should be banned, the courtiers were divided into two major factions according to their different positions, and Yu Qian was inclined to the anti-smoking faction, and regarded the prohibition of opium as an important duty of officials. During Lin Zexu's anti-smoking period in Guangdong, Yu Qian, then the inspector of Jiangsu, actively cooperated and severely cracked down on non-judges who severely cracked down on tobacco dealers, smokers, and tobacco dealers, making Jiangsu a province second only to Guangdong in achieving anti-smoking results. However, Yu Qian's more commendable deeds are the courage to resist the aggression of the British army.
In June 1840, the Sino-British Opium War officially broke out, and the British army sent a fleet to blockade the pearl river estuary and attack Guangzhou. However, due to Lin Zexu's tight defenses, the British attack failed to succeed, so they had to leave the Coast of Guangdong and go north to capture Dinghai in July of that year. As a maritime military fortress, Dinghai is located at the confluence of the Yangtze River estuary and Hangzhou Bay, and its fall will directly threaten the security of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. To this end, Yu Qian asked the imperial court to add artillery and build forts to strengthen the coastal defense of Jiangsu, paying special attention to the preparation of Baoshan and Shanghai.
Map of the Situation of the Opium War
However, after the British captured Dinghai, they did not land in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but only part of the troops were left to defend the city, and then the main force continued north along the coast, and finally reached the outside of Tianjin Dagukou, forcing the Qing court to agree to negotiate with the British, trade and punish Lin Zexu. After that, the war was relatively mild, and due to the epidemic of the disease, the British garrison also took the initiative to withdraw from Dinghai in February 1841. After the British army withdrew, Yu Qian immediately sent troops to retake Dinghai, and built fortifications and shipbuilding and casting cannons in the local area to prevent the British army from attacking again.
While strengthening the defense of Dinghai, Yuqian also built a large number of civil engineering projects in the nearby Zhenhai County, and built on the basis of the original fortifications, eventually forming four strong defensive lines of Zhaobao Mountain, Jinji Mountain, Daxia River, and Zhenhai City. In addition to strengthening the defense, Yu Qian also paid special attention to inspiring the morale of the soldiers, because in his eyes, the key to winning or losing the war was not in the equipment, but in the hearts of the people. To this end, before the start of the war, Yu Qian would personally go to the front line to command and lead the civil and military officials to swear an oath in front of the statue to boost the morale of the army.
Portrait of the three general soldiers of the Dinghai Defense War
However, under the blow of the British guns, all yuqian's efforts were in vain. Dissatisfied with the slow progress of Sino-British negotiations, the British started another war in January 1841, and in just a few months they successively attacked Guangzhou, Xiamen, Gulangyu and other places, and invaded Dinghai again in September of that year. Although Yu Qian personally commanded the defense of Dinghai and annihilated more than 1,000 British troops after 6 days and nights of bloody fighting, due to the serious backwardness in weapons and equipment, coupled with the timidity of Yu Buyun, the governor of Zhejiang, dinghai eventually fell 5 days later, and the general soldiers Ge Yunfei, Wang Xipeng, Zheng Guohong and 4,000 soldiers were killed.
After the second fall of Dinghai, the British invading fleet divided into two routes, thousands of people on each road, and attacked Jinji Mountain and Zhaobao Mountain at the same time. In order to encourage the soldiers to kill the enemy heroically, Yuqian personally climbed Zhaobao Mountain to supervise the battle, and vowed to die with Zhenhai. After the battle began, Yu Qian commanded the defenders at the head of the city to fire fiercely at the invaders, and at the same time ordered the general Xie Chao'en to concentrate his forces to attack the British troops in the landing operation. After several rounds of fighting, the Qing army killed hundreds of British troops, greatly boosting morale. However, over time, the situation on the battlefield began to reverse.
Schematic of the Battle of Zhenhai
It turned out that the British warships took advantage of the long range of the cannons to attack the Qing army's battery positions on the shore and on the mountain from a distance on the sea, and destroyed them all. Subsequently, under the cover of fierce artillery fire, the British army forcibly landed from the small port behind Jinji Mountain and Zhaobao Mountain, and Yu Buyun, who was stationed at Zhaobao Mountain, was greedy and afraid of death, and even abandoned the fort and fled to Ningbo without waiting for the British army to attack, while Xie Chao'en, who was guarding Jinji Mountain, sacrificed his life on the battlefield. After the fall of Zhaobao Mountain and Jinji Mountain, the British army bombarded Zhenhai City with artillery to cover the British army's climbing ladder to the city.
After witnessing the defense line he had painstakingly built up by himself being easily captured by the British, Yu Qian was discouraged, but he did not heed the advice of his subordinates to leave Zhenhai, but instead bowed to the imperial court facing northwest to apologize, and then jumped into the pond to commit suicide. However, Yu Qian did not die immediately, and was rescued by his family and soldiers and sent to Yuyao for treatment, and there was still a breath on the road, but before he entered Yuyao, he died of exhaustion, on October 11, 1841. As a result, Yu Qian became the only Qing Dynasty governor who was martyred in the Opium War, and also the highest-ranking martyr official.
Michimitsu-tei Image
After the news of Yu Qian's suicide and martyrdom reached Beijing, the Daoguang Emperor was overwhelmed with grief and ordered that he be posthumously awarded the title of Crown Prince Taibao, given the title of Jingjie, given the post of Knight Lieutenant and a First Class Cloud Rider, attached the ancestral hall of the capital Master Zhaozhong, and established a special shrine in Zhenhai. When Yu Qian's coffin arrived in Beijing, the Daoguang Emperor sent King Zairui of Chengjun to pay tribute. After the Xianfeng Emperor ascended the throne, in recognition of Yu Qian's loyalty, he specially allocated silver to build a cemetery for him, which was quite grand in scale. Unfortunately, due to the artificial destruction of later generations, the original buildings such as the hall and stone stele of Yuqian's tomb have now disappeared, which makes people extremely sad.
bibliography
Zhao Erxun: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1998 edition.
Official Revision Historical Materials: Qing Shilu, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2008 edition.
Edited by the First Historical Archive of China: Historical Materials of the Opium War Archives, Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 1992.
Chinese Historical Society, ed., Opium War, Shenzhou Guoguang Publishing House, 1954.