As the final battle of the Second Opium War, the defeat at the Battle of Bali Bridge directly caused the Qing court to lose Tongzhou, and the gateway to Beijing has since opened. In this battle, the Qing army not only far exceeded the British and French allied forces, but also led the battle with the famous elite iron horses, but in the end it lost to the fast guns and guns of the coalition forces.
The defeat at the Battle of Bali Bridge made the Qing rulers begin to re-examine the true combat power of the iron horses that had brought them countless glory. Soon after the outbreak of the Western affairs movement, the Qing court began to learn to introduce the modern military system of the West, and the Battle of Bali Bridge became the song of the Mongolian iron horse in the Central Plains.
Background to the outbreak of the Battle of Bali Bridge
We know that in the Second Opium War, the British and French coalition forces attacked Dagukou three times before and after, so why is this Dagukou so important that it is worth the allied forces to keep an eye on? The reason is that Dagukou is the key place of Tianjin's coastal defense, and Tianjin is the gateway to Beijing, which means that Dagukou is the window in the portal, and its military strategic position can be seen. In the three battles of Takukou, the Anglo-French coalition won two and lost one. At the First Battle of Dagukou, the Qing court was defeated and forced to sign the Treaty of Tianjin with the coalition forces. In the Second Battle of Dagukou, the Qing court won the biggest victory since the Opium War, and the British and French allies who were light enemies lost their troops and fled. From this time to the third Battle of Dagukou, it was after this battle that the influential Battle of Bali Bridge broke out.
The Third Battle of Dagukou broke out in 1860 and was provoked by the coalition forces on the grounds of amending the Treaty of Tianjin, but it was not necessarily without the shame of the defeat of the Second Battle of Dagukou. On August 1, the Anglo-French army landed in Beitang and occupied Tianjin in less than a month. The fall of Tianjin was tantamount to tearing a hole in Beijing's military defense line. Soon, the Qing court sent a negotiating delegation represented by the chancellor Guiliang and Zaiyuan the Prince of Yi to Zhangjiawan in Tongzhou to negotiate peace with the representatives of the coalition forces.
After the peace talks officially began, the British side immediately put forward the demand that "please increase military expenses and trade in Tianjin, and ask ministers from various countries to bring troops to Beijing to exchange treaties." In this regard, The Xianfeng Emperor's response to the Qing Fang council and ministers was: "If yiguo can perform the ritual of kneeling and then submit the state certificate, then this matter can naturally be answered; if not, it means that the barbarians do not have the heart to care." And if Yi Bing insisted on crossing Zhangjiawan, then the monk Greenqin could immediately carry out the killing. "In the ancient history of Chinese and Western diplomacy, the bowing ceremony demanded by the Heavenly Dynasty has always been the biggest obstacle to the realization of peaceful and friendly dialogue between the two sides. This time was no exception, in the face of the Qing Emperor's "rude demands", the coalition army of course could not agree, and the peace talks reached an impasse.
Prince Zaiyuan of Yi was the representative of the Qing side for the second peace talks, and he was very dissatisfied with the arrogant attitude of the representative of the coalition army, so he privately consulted with the monk Greenqin and decided to escort the British counselor Pasha Li back to Beijing. The reasons for the Qing court's seizure of Pasha Li were not complicated, in addition to showing a tough posture, the other was to weaken the combat effectiveness of the coalition forces by detaining Pasha Li (good at using troops). The Qing side's seizure of the negotiators infuriated the British and French allies, and the British minister even immediately issued a bold statement, "If the Qing side does not immediately release PashaLi, then the coalition forces will immediately attack the city of Beijing." In the face of the threat of the coalition forces, the Xianfeng Emperor was also very tough, and when he ordered the monk Gelinqin to lead the Mongol horse team of 10,000 people, and Shengbao led more than 17,000 infantry and cavalry to Tongzhou to fight a decisive battle with the British and French forces.
It should also be noted that at that time, there were not many good generals available under the Xianfeng Emperor, and the monk Gelinqin and Shengbao were among the best. Monk Greenqin was a famous general of the Qing court, who had suppressed the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Army, including Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, and left a great name. The same was true of Katsuho, who had fought against the Taiping Army on the front line for a long time and had great experience in actual combat.
In the overall strategic arrangement, the Senggelinqin and Shengbao led the troops to block the coalition army from the front, which was the first hand of the Xianfeng Emperor. In addition, the Xianfeng Emperor also ordered the militia in Tianjin to attack the rear of the coalition army, which was the backhand of the Xianfeng Emperor. But in fact, in the whole process, the militia in Tianjin did not take any action. In terms of specific combat tactics, the Xianfeng Emperor believed that this battle should be won by surprise troops, so his plan was: Senggelinqin first led the Mongol horse team as a forward, caught him off guard, and then Shengbao led the infantry and cavalry to encircle from both flanks, and finally surrounded and annihilated the coalition army. However, the results of the battle afterwards proved that the Xianfeng Emperor was still too naïve.
The Battle of Bali Bridge
As mentioned earlier, the monk Gelinqin led the Mongol horse team of 10,000 people, and Shengbao led 17,000 infantry and cavalry, so the Qing army sent to Tongzhou was about 27,000 people. And what is the corresponding coalition strength? About 5,000 people! Among them, there were 4,000 infantry and 1,000 artillerymen. At 6:00 a.m. on September 21, Senggelinqin led a Mongol horse team to launch a frontal attack on the coalition forces. According to montauban, the commander-in-chief of the French army, the Qing cavalry swarmed towards the coalition forces in the form of a group charge.
But in the face of such a spectacular and terrifying scene, the Allied soldiers did not seem nervous at all, and they had been allowing the Qing cavalry to rush to fifty meters away from them before they began to concentrate on firing. Suddenly, the Mongol horse team, which had previously been brave and matchless, turned over on its backs one by one, and gradually collapsed into an army. The infantry and cavalry led by Katsuho encircled from both flanks, and although they initially achieved some results, under the suppression of the allied fire, they could only retreat in the direction of the Bali Bridge like the Mongol horse team.
At this moment, the strategic importance of the Bali Bridge was suddenly highlighted - if the Qing army could not occupy and defend the Bali Bridge in time, it would face the fate of the entire army being destroyed; and if the coalition army successfully captured the Bali Bridge, then not only could it eliminate more than 27,000 Qing troops in one fell swoop, but also open the passage between Tongzhou and Beijing and seek more benefits. Therefore, the Bali Bridge became the decisive battle between the Qing army and the British and French forces. In the Battle of Bali Bridge, the Qing soldiers fought bravely one by one, showing their tenacious and indomitable fighting spirit and passion, but in the end they could not change the outcome of defeat. The battle lasted only 4 hours, the Qing army was defeated, and from the post-war casualty data, the ratio of qing troops to allied casualties reached a staggering 300:1, and the gap between the military strength of the two sides can be seen.
Analysis of the reasons for the defeat of the Qing army in the Battle of Bali Bridge
(1) Generals are not in harmony
There is no doubt that in the Battle of Bali Bridge, the monk Greenqin, who was in charge of the frontal attack, was the commander, and Katsuho, who was responsible for the two wings, was the deputy commander. However, the monks Greenqin and Katsuho not only did not cooperate in the battlefield to resist the enemy, but afterwards also shirked their responsibilities by slandering each other's next three indiscriminate tricks. For example, in a letter to the Minister of Military Aircraft, Katsuho accused the monk Gelinqin of missing the fighter plane because he did not investigate the Fleeing Mongol Horse Team in time. In fact, there have been rumors of discord between the two. For example, some people say that "if the monk Greenqin can receive Katsuho in time, then this battle may be another ending", and even more sinister words: "The monk king has always been jealous of Katsuho's prestige, afraid that Katsuho will threaten his position with this battle merit, so he wants to use this battle to get rid of Katsuho." It can be seen that the relationship between the Qing generals in the Battle of Bali Bridge was not harmonious.
(2) Tactical mistakes
Facts have proved that the tactician Xianfeng Emperor did not clearly understand the power of the British and French allied guns, and blindly made a battle plan to charge the guns with cavalry. What is even more fatal is that in the case of cavalry in front and behind the infantry hall, if the cavalry retreats, then the infantry will not have time to give way, which will only lead to a chaotic formation, and the Battle of Bali Bridge will have this kind of pit daddy situation. It can be seen that the tactical mistakes made by the Xianfeng Emperor were also an important reason for the defeat of the Qing army in the Battle of Bali bridge, and at the same time, this also reflected the huge loopholes in the military combat command of the Qing court from the side.
(3) Backwardness in weaponry and equipment and soldier training
In the Battle of Bali Bridge, the weapons used by the Qing army were mainly traditional cold weapons such as large knives and spears, and even if muskets and artillery appeared, they were used as auxiliary weapons. Judging from the Qing artillery captured by the coalition forces, the "Invincible General" gun was the most frequently used artillery of the Qing army. Not only did the gun have no sight, but it could not even adjust the firing range basically. At this time, the British and French allies had already used new weapons to re-shoot, so the Qing army had no power to fight back. In addition, what makes people cry and laugh even more is that even if there is an "invincible general" cannon in hand, few Qing artillerymen will use it correctly. According to the notes of the coalition officers, "most of the artillery of the Qing army were prisoners of war released when the coalition army captured the Dagukou Fort, and the shells they fired could not hit us." This also reflects the backwardness of the Qing army in the training of soldiers.
The impact of the Battle of Bali Bridge
The defeat of the Qing army at the Battle of Bali Bridge not only allowed the British and French forces to smoothly open the passage from Tongzhou to Beijing, and thus smoothly entered the city of Beijing, where the gateway was wide open, but also made the Mongolian iron horse collapse from then on. According to the Senggelinqin post-war song, "After this battle, the Mongol horse team under the slaves broke up seven out of ten, and they were no longer able to fight anymore."
The Mongol Iron Horse once made a great contribution to the Qing army's advance into the Central Plains, and did not want to be frightened by the guns of the British and French coalition forces in the Battle of Bali Bridge, which showed the weakness of the cavalry in the face of Western guns. After the Battle of Bali Bridge, there was no large-scale cavalry battle on the Battlefield of China, so the Mongolian Iron Horse became a song.
In the Battle of Bali Bridge, the 27,000 Qing army was actually beaten by 5,000 allied troops without the ability to fight back, which was unexpected by many Qing court ministers. However, even if the gap between the military strength between China and the West is large, they have to accept this huge gap. As a result, some people of insight have gradually realized the importance of rich countries and strong troops. For example, Li Hongzhang proposed to buy Western-style weapons and reorganize the army, and Zeng Guofan established China's first modern military factory, the Anqingnei Ordnance Institute, which opened the prelude to the foreign affairs movement.
The reason why the Battle of Bali Bridge broke out was that the British and French allies invaded China's sovereignty first, and the Qing army detained British Counselor Pasha Li after the negotiations between the two sides broke down. As a result, the Qing army was defeated, and the Chinese side paid a heavy price for the burning of the Yuanmingyuan and the signing of the Beijing Treaty. The good side is that after the Qing court learned its lessons, it launched a foreign affairs movement and gradually introduced the modern Western military system into China.