The Ti-pings lost upwards of 1,000 men in their obstinate defence, the Allies 2 killed and 10 wounded! About 2,000 were taken prisoners, the greater part of whom supplied the Shanghae execution ground, while the remnant of the garrison succeeded in cutting their way through the hostile lines. Not more than half of the prisoners were fighting men.
Whether the most Christian and civilized allies had not obtained sufficient loot, or killed enough fellow-creatures to satisfy them, I am unable safely to state, but I opine that in neither particular were they satiated. At all events, after sacking Tsing-poo and delivering up their unfortunate captives to the tender mercies of the merciless Imperialists, General Staveley and his co-adjutors started off in quest of further glory, dollars, and Ti-pings. These noble crusaders at length came to the fortified village of Na-jaor, where one of the triumviri met with his death.
Na-jaor was simply a village, but a wall having been built around it, a small outwork erected, and the whole surrounded by dykes and dry ditches, with chevaux de frize and pallisades between them, it would have been a difficult place to capture without artillery. The outwork mounted three small guns, and a few others were divided between the usual square flanking defences of a Chinese wall. The garrison of this place can scarcely have numbered 1,000, all told.
The Armstrong guns and other artillery of the British and French opened fire and shelled the defenders out of the small redoubt, upon the afternoon of the 17th of May. While this was going on the garrison of the village made a spirited sortie, but, with only an armament of bamboo spears and rusty jingalls, were of course driven back with great loss. At last the fire of the besieged seemed silenced, while their wall was breached and crumbling in every direction. The stormers now rushed forward with their usual bravery, sword in hand and bayonet to the charge, to assault a Ti-ping post that had been thoroughly shelled for a couple of hours, and in which nought but a few frightened fugitives and the bodies of the slain were likely to be found. In the case of Na-jaor, however, there was more courage required than the attacking force imagined, for, instead of finding the walls deserted except by the killed and wounded, and the garrison in flight, they were suddenly faced by an ambuscade which had been concealed under comparative protection at the interior slope of the wall during the bombardment. The British and French were rushing forward at the double, their leading files had already reached the ditch at the foot of the rampart, when the Ti-pings, starting from their cover, remanned the walls and opened a sharp fire with jingalls, matchlocks, and the few European-made fire-arms which they possessed. Cheering vigorously, or rather yelling, the defenders maintained a well-directed fire for some little time, killing the French Admiral with a ball through his heart, and wounding about a dozen other of the assailants. The allies experienced a momentary check, but the whole resistless array of artillery having swept the walls with their iron tempest, the storming parties again rushed forward and succeeded in establishing themselves upon the walls before the defenders were able to re-man them. Then the work of slaughter was continued with the rifle, the unwieldy bamboos, with iron spikes at the ends, proving a worse than useless defence.
Mercy seems never to have entered into the minds of those Christian warriors, who loudly inveighed against the Ti-pings as "bloodthirsty monsters," &c., &c.; for when victory crowned their unparalleled feats of arms, no effort to save the defenceless and unresisting fugitives was ever made, but while those who had thrown down their arms were vainly trying to hide or flee from the deadly rifle, or stood blocked in a gateway of the tower, the valorous conquerors calmly and easily continued to shoot them down so long as they remained within range.
The total loss of the Allies at the capture of Na-jaor was, the French Admiral killed, and sixteen men wounded. The Ti-pings left dead at their posts, which they had really bravely though fruitlessly striven to defend, upwards of 500 men, more than half their whole force. Directly the place was fairly in their possession the respectable victors dispersed in search of plunder; as one report has it, "looting parties were formed, the French looting one half and the English the other."
The ill-gained spoil having been stowed away in the boats, the Allies marched on for the next Ti-ping position devoted to destruction, leaving a strong detachment in charge of Na-jaor. The place which had now attracted the cupidity, love of military glory, or some unknown sentiment of the Allies, was a small town named Cho-lin, situated about six miles from Na-jaor, 26 miles to the S.S.W. of Shanghae, and within two miles of the sea.
Having arrived before Cho-lin during the night of May 18, the Allies began to establish their powerful batteries, and on the morning of the 19th opened fire upon the town. The Ti-pings in garrison, some 2,000 or 3,000 strong, replied to the best of their resources with a few pieces of immoveable Chinese artillery, jingalls, and matchlocks. At noon the besiegers ceased firing and refreshed themselves with chow-chow and brandy. Meanwhile, a Ti-ping chief performed an act of the most daring courage with remarkable coolness and audacity. Having observed the occupation of the besiegers, this chief, leaving the town by the opposite side, made a circuit, and coming upon the rear of the enemy's position, calmly rode right through it with a few followers, satisfying himself as to their composition and numbers. "Everyone took him for an Imperialist and allowed him to pass on. When he got near the town he rode for his life, and got to his friends inside the city." So reported one of the officers engaged in the attack. Undaunted by the powerful artillery and formidable array of the European troops, the Ti-ping chief determined to hold and defend his trust against them, even although he must have been convinced that he had no effectual means by which he could repel or reply to their attack. The day passed on and with it the last hope of the beleaguered garrison, who scorned to take advantage of the opportunity to evacuate the town and save their lives.
At daylight on the 20th all the Allies' guns, being in position, opened fire again, the Armstrong guns and field pieces sweeping the defenders from the walls, and the hoarsely-roaring 32's steadily firing to effect a breach. Storming, covering, and sharpshooting parties waited around the devoted place until the murderous shelling should subdue all opposition to their heroic advance. At length, two practicable breaches were effected, the enfilading batteries, established on either flank, poured their crushing mitraille along the parapet, sweeping away every man who dared to show himself, and the assaulting column pushed forward to the breaches. The Ti-pings had in this case been able to maintain a small number of troops on the wall by means of some ingeniously contrived bomb-proofs. A few narrow pits were dug behind the parapet and covered in with planks overlaid with earth, under which some hundred or two found shelter. When the artillery ceased its fire as the stormers mounted the breach, these men made a desperate defence, while the rest of the garrison, emerging from their places of concealment, rushed to man the walls and assist them. But what could these miserably armed men effect against the hundreds of perfectly equipped Europeans pouring over their shattered walls? They fell bravely, disputing every inch of ground.
The defenders driven from the ramparts or killed, the gallant Allies rushed through the small town, indiscriminately massacring every man, woman, and child within its walls. The Ti-pings had so earnestly endeavoured to shut out the besiegers that they had most effectually blocked themselves in, and were consequently butchered almost to a man. After the massacre was over, an officer of the force, writing to the North China Herald, stated, "Almost every house we entered contained dead and dying men."