Battle of Jiangnan (1856)

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First rout of the Jiangnan Battalion
Date Late May, 1856 – early August, 1856 (Determined battle from June 16–20) Location Outside Nanjing and Jiangbei (江北), China Result Taiping victory Territorial changes South eastern China annexed by Taiping Heavenly Kingdom[clarification needed]
Belligerents
Qing Dynasty	Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Xiang Rong  † Her Chyun Zhang GuoLiang Jeer Hungar  †	Yang Xiuqing Qin Rigang Shi Dakai Li Xiucheng
Strength
80,000 Green Standard Army	460,000 militia forces
Casualties and losses
39,000 killed or wounded	unknown

The First rout of the Jiangnan Battalion (simplified Chinese: 一破江南大营; traditional Chinese: 一破江南大營) took place between 1853 and 1856^[1] when the Qing government raised the Green Standard Army to fight against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The action involved Qing forces surrounding the city of Nanjing, the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom militia successfully occupied Nanjing in the southern territory of Jiangnan, within ten days First Class Senior Gen. Xiang Rong, in command of 10,000 Green Standard Army troops, surrounded the walls of the city. The remnants of the former Qing garrison defending Nanjing were barricaded outside city walls inside the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.

Alongside Xiang Rong, the Green Standard Army was led by Second Class Senior Gen. Her Chyun and Lt. Gen. Zhang Guoliang. The leaders of the Taiping forces were Shi Dakai, Yang Xiuqing, Qin Rigang (秦日綱) and Li Xiucheng.^[2]

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

On June 1 the Nanjing army tried to stop Taiping forces but Governor of Jiangsu Jeer Hungar (吉爾杭阿), the Mayor of Nanjing and their entire army of 7,800 were totally wiped out, with Jeer Hungar being killed by an artillery bomb.

The Qing army lost another battle later in the month and the remaining 36,000 troops 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.^[1]

• Second Rout of the Jiangnan Battalion
• Second Opium War

• Draft History of Qing
• 1. Tucker, Spencer (2017). The Roots and Consequences of Civil Wars and Revolutions: Conflicts That Changed World History. Santa Barbara, California: ProQuest. pp. 225. ISBN 9781440842948.
• 2. Wacks, Gabriel (2018). "All Under Heaven: The Royal Court of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom". pp. 31–32.
• 3. ^ Tucker, pp. 228.