1856年10月，廣東水師接獲告發喺廣州檢查一艘名為“亞羅號”嘅商船，逮捕咗懷疑同海盜有牽連嘅12名水手。由於亞羅號喺過香港註冊，英國駐廣州領事巴夏禮晤理會其香港執照已過期，向兩廣總督葉名琛施壓要渠松人。葉名琛交涉後應承咗放曬啲水手，不過英方冇收貨，開始炮轟廣州城，廣州海關停止貿易。英軍迅速佔領城南沿江各炮臺，並一度攻入廣州內城，但最後撤軍。12月，十三行畀焚毀。1857年12月，英法聯軍攻入廣州城，兩廣總督葉名琛被帶走。廣東巡撫柏貴同意咗由巴夏禮、哈羅威、修萊等組成委員會負責廣州治安。
In October 1856, Cantonese sailors received a report that they were inspecting a merchant ship named the Van Ya Luo uranium in Canton and arrested 12 sailors suspected of being involved in pirates. Since the Yarrow had been registered in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom Consul in Canton, Pasha Li, had decided that his Hong Kong licence had expired and pressured the Governor of Liangguang, Ye Mingchen, to Qu Songren. After Ye Mingchen negotiated, he agreed to release some sailors, but the British did not receive the goods and began to bombard the city of Guangzhou, and the Guangzhou Customs stopped trade. The British army quickly occupied the forts along the river in the south of the city, and for a time attacked the inner city of Guangzhou, but finally withdrew. In December, the Thirteen Lines were burned. In December 1857, the British and French forces invaded the city of Guangzhou, and Ye Mingchen, the governor of Liangguang, was taken away. Bai Gui, the governor of Guangdong, agreed to form a committee composed of Pa Xiali, Haroway, and Xiu Lai to take charge of public security in Guangzhou.