It only took more than two months to set out from London on June 5, and Pu Dingcha arrived at the headquarters of the Japanese invaders on Hong Kong Island. On August 2 1 day, the main force of the British army left some troops to defend Hong Kong Island, and went north under the leadership of Pu Dingcha, and the second stage of the Opium War began. The British army successively captured Dinghai, Zhenhai, Ningbo and other places, but due to limited forces, it was unable to launch an effective attack on the areas along the Yangtze River. Although it once harassed Yuyao, Cixi, Fenghua and other places, it either occupied or retreated or bluffed.
Pudingcha was helpless and asked for reinforcements from his superiors, who readily agreed. While waiting for reinforcements, Pudingcha had nothing to do before returning to Hong Kong to meet reinforcements in1842+1October. However, until May, the reinforcements still did not arrive, and the British army was forced to shrink the front line and automatically withdraw from strategic places such as Ningbo and Zhenhai.
At the beginning of June, reinforcements arrived on Hong Kong Island one after another, then went all out to the north, and soon "successfully joined forces" with the rest. /kloc-in June of 0/9, the British army, whose strength increased greatly, occupied Shanghai like lightning. On July 5, Zhenjiang, a strategic place, was captured. However, during the battle of Zhenjiang, a serious cholera occurred inside the British army.
At that time, military doctors believed that cholera was contagious, so isolation became an important means of control. After the Battle of Zhenjiang, all British ships were forbidden to come and go casually and communicate with each other. However, these measures not only failed to stop the spread of cholera, but also aggravated the cholera epidemic because of the reduction of contact with the outside world and the closure of their own space.
The cholera epidemic has caused serious losses to the British army and greatly reduced its combat capability, thus completely disrupting its strategic concept. Especially when the fleet staggered to the gate of Nanjing, the British army became more anxious and even lacked confidence in capturing Nanjing. However, the imminent threat cannot be changed casually. The British army in a dilemma can only pretend to be happy and wait for a miracle.
Who knows that at this critical moment, the Qing government actually asked for peace talks with Britain, which gave great comfort to the British army in a dilemma, so the two countries quickly signed the treaty of nanking.
If it hadn't been for the cholera epidemic, the British might have captured Nanjing soon, and it wouldn't have given the Qing government too much time to prepare and think. Moreover, after the British army won Nanjing, it may not stop there, but use prestige and momentum to further expand the results. After all, the strategic goal of the British army is the whole Jiangnan area.
But cholera happened and it was very serious. In this case, the British army was not sure when and how the Qing government would end the war, at least it did not expect that the Qing government would yield on the eve of the decisive battle in Nanjing. The decision-makers of the British army thought that it was possible for the Qing government to respond at least by taking Nanjing, but the Qing government's response was so agile that it really surprised the British. It can be said that cholera ended the Opium War to some extent.
But then again, if the Qing government had better intelligence gathering ability, the Opium War might have different results, and there might be another development trend in China's modern history.