Battle of Jiangnan (1856)

The First rout of the Jiangnan Battalion took place between 1853 and 1856 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.

First rout of the Jiangnan Army Group
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.

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

Outcome
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.