In June 1840, at Macao, the British prepared 15 warships, 5 armed steamers (including the Nemesis) and 4000 troops.
Advance towards Ningpo (China)
The Chinese thought that the British ships were made out of wood (but they were made of metal) so they practiced using monkeys to set the British ships on fire. This would obviously not work.
China trying to set the British ships on fire
When I-Ching sent a spy into Britain, the spy reported that there were around 300 men but there were actually over 1200. This number made I-Ching extremely confident so he organised a poetry competition for who can write the best victory speech.
The civilians along the route thought that they would eat up all of their crops and animals so they ran away with them. The soldiers had nothing to eat. They were dissuaded but not happy.
The men who were supposed to try and set it on fire did not dare get less than 3m close to the ship, so the British had plenty of time to get them away.
Many Chinese died and the British captured Ningpo.