Battle of Shanghai ( 1861 ) The Battle of Shanghai ( 太平軍二攻上海 ) was a major engagement of the Taiping Rebellion that occurred from June 1861 to July 1862 . British and French troops used modern artillery on a large scale for the first time in China . Cannon fire inflicted heavy casualties on the Taiping forces , whose commander Li Xiucheng was wounded in the left leg by a shot fired from a cannon . Prelude . Shanghai had been occupied by the initial wave of the Taiping Rebellion in 1851 but was recovered by the Qing in February 1853 . In June 1860 , a Taiping army of 20 , 000 led by Lai Wenguang had attacked Shanghai and reoccupied it for five months before withdrawing . In early 1861 , Li Xiucheng was in control of Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces , commanding over 600 , 000 Taiping troops . He aimed to capture the large but isolated city , one of the most important cities under the Qing government and home to an international port . At Li Xiucheng ' s request the UK and France had promised to maintain neutrality . By 11 June 1861 , the Taiping Army was able to muster five armies , commanded by Tan Shaoguang , Li Rongfa , G Qingyun , Chen Kunshu , and Chen Binwen , organized under two fronts , and other units . The commander of the Imperial Green Standard Army was Huang Esen , under the direction of Shanghai ' s taotai Wu Shu ( 道台吳煦 ) . The Huai Army militia were led by Li Hongzhang . First stage . Taiping ' s Lieutenant General Li Rongfa began the battle with an invasion of Pudong by 20 , 000 men , transported in thousands of boats . On his occupation of the whole district , the city requested help from the English and French . In October ( according to the Chinese calendar ) , the American Frederick Townsend Ward brought 2 , 000 Filipino and Chinese soldiers , whom he had trained , against the Taiping forces . Following a fifteen - day Christmas ceasefire called by Li Rongfa , the government of Shanghai asked Beijing for assistance in December . In response the Huai Army with its 20 , 000 soldiers was sent to reinforce Shanghai immediately . Middle stage . On 10 April 1862 ( according to the Chinese calendar ) , Li Hongzhang was formally promoted to governor of Jiangsu . Five days later , the Huai Army began their counterattack on Shanghai . At the same time , the mayor of Jinshan District commanded 5 , 000 men of the Green Standard Army to surround and attack the city of Taicang , which was then occupied by Taiping forces . Li Xiucheng sent 100 , 000 men to relieve Taicang on 19 April . Despite orders from Li Hongzhang to withdraw , the mayor refused to do so , resulting in the loss of his entire force . On 29 April , Major General Chen Binwen occupied Jiading ( 嘉定 ) , whose Qing garrison withdrew to Shanghai proper . The Taiping Army then prepared to attack Songjiang and northwestern Shanghai from Jiading . Li Hongzhang ordered Major General Cheng Xuechi , vice - commander of the Huai Army , to counterattack against Chen Binwen . On 1 May , Li Rongfa ' s force surrendered to the Huai Army in Nanhui District . Li Hongzhang delegated Brigadier Liu Mingchuan to accept their surrender , provoking Li Ronfar to order Lieutenant General G Qingyun to make a series of attacks against Liu Mingchuan in the district . The failure of these attacks forced Li Ronfar to withdraw from Pudong on 10 May , ending nine months of occupation . The Qing government thus regained control of eastern and southern Shanghai . On 8 May , Cheng Xuechi launched an assault on the Taiping forces occupying Songjiang , and expelled them after thirteen days of combat . Last stage . In September 1862 a Taiping army of 80 , 000 soldiers under the command of Tan Shaoguang mounted a second attack on Shanghai , which was defended by Major General Guo Songlin ( 郭松林 ) of the Huai Army . The initial assault , led by Chen Binwen ( 陳炳文 ) , faltered when Cheng Xuechi destroyed all twenty Taiping camps ( one of which accommodated 500 soldiers ) ; Chen Binwen retreated to Sijiangkou ( 四江口 ) , where he joined Tan Shaoguang . On 12 September , the consolidated Taiping forces , numbering 70 , 000 , struck the Qing again from Taicang and Kunshan . Moving very rapidly , they reached Qingpu District , only 5 km from the city , and surrounded 20 , 000 imperial troops . The Qing fleet commander Huang Esen counterattacked from the river , gaining some ground , but even after reinforcement by the Ever Victorious Army he was unable to make much progress . The Taiping forces used this time to build many floating bridges . Li Hongzhang arrived to oversee the combat in person , ordering his generals ( Cheng , Guo , and Liu ) to defeat Tan and relieve the Imperial units surrounded by the Taiping on the northern coast before it was too late . On 21 September , Cheng Xuechi , commanding only 6 , 000 combined Huai Army and Qing naval forces , in eight successive attacks made between 8 : 00 and 14 : 00 , was finally able to cut off the Taiping Army ' s retreat . The Huai Army were encouraged to break out of the enclave on the northern coast , destroying over 30 , 000 Taiping forces . Cheng himself received a serious gunshot wound to the chest , but was rewarded with a promotion to Lieutenant General . General Tan , accompanied by Brigadier Gau Yonkwan ( 郜永寬 ) , retreated to Suzhou to prepare its defences . The Taiping forces launched four more unsuccessful attacks against the defenders , after which Hong Xiuquan ordered the offensive to be halted and the forces to withdraw , thus ending the battle . The combined forces of the Qing government , the British , and the French were victorious , and Taiping permanently abandoned its designs on Shanghai . Comment . Hong Rengan was very opposed to this battle , Hong thought Shanghai was not a military problem .