In response to Zexu's actions, in January 1841 the Royal Navy bombarded Chinese positions near Canton and landed troops ashore in several locations.

The left column towed by Nemesis consisted of more than 700 troops drawn from regiments that included the 49th Foot, 27th Madras Infantry and Bengal Volunteers along with 380 Royal Marines.

The large number of troop-carrying vessels under tow by Nemesis slowed her progress and she did not reach the bank next to the village of Tsing-Hae,[C] some five miles up river, until dusk.

"[3] At 3:00  and already under bombardment from the two Western forts, British troops set up a rocket battery, two 51⁄2 mortars, two 12-pounder howitzers and two nine-pounder guns, then returned fire.

Under cover of the artillery, Lt. Col. Morris and the 49th, supported by the 37th Madras Native Infantry and Bengal Volunteers, had orders to advance up a hill to his left towards the nearest eastern fort.

At the same time Gough ordered the brigade of seamen to attack the two western forts but the sudden approach of a large body of enemy troops from the right forced him to detach the marines under Capt.

Gough sent interpreter Peter Perring Thoms, on secondment from British Plenipotentiary and Superintendent of Trade Charles Elliot, to find out what it meant.

This time, a message arrived from Charles Elliot announcing that he had come to an agreement with the governor-general of Canton, Yu Baochen (余葆纯) according to the following key points:[7] Gough was to hold his position until further notice.

[citation needed] According to historian Frederick Wakeman, "Out of the humiliating military defeats of the Opium War [the Chinese] have been able to extract a great popular victory, blemished only by the cowardice of Qing officials.

Stories and rumours surrounding the incident led the Chinese public to believe that local militias and paramilitaries would be the only successful way to defeat the British and nurtured a general climate of anti-government dissatisfaction, which helped pave the way for the Taiping and Boxer Rebellions that came to plague the Qing government later on.