Hai River
On 25 June 1859, with the British attack on the Taku Forts by the Hai River in Tientsin hostilities between the Anglo-French and Qing sides resumed. On 6 July, Parkes was requested to join Lord Elgin in the Gulf of Pechihli. He sailed on 21 July and was appointed as Lord Elgin's Chinese secretary alongside Thomas Francis Wade.