During the First Opium War, why did the Qing Dynasty compromise and make peace as soon as British ships approached Nanjing?

The first Opium War was 1840 to 1842, which marked the arrival of modern China. In the early days of the soldiers, although they were repeatedly defeated, the Qing army still resolutely resisted. However, when British ships approached the Xiaguan River in Nanjing and threatened to attack Nanjing City, the Qing Dynasty chose to compromise and sent an imperial envoy to sign the unequal treaty of nanking between China and Britain. The signing of "treaty of nanking" opened the prelude for China to pay reparations to foreign countries and negotiate tariffs in modern times, and lost its independent status. Then, in the case of vast territory and abundant financial resources, why didn't the Qing dynasty choose to fight to the end and choose peace? Before the Opium War broke out, there was indeed a great gap between China and Britain in economy, military and science and technology, but this was not the main reason for peace in the Qing Dynasty, and the deeper reason came from the political level. The Qing Dynasty was a political power established by a pluralistic empire as a minority in the Central Plains, and it was a pluralistic dynasty from beginning to end. After the unification of Nuzhen ministries in Northeast China, Nurhachi reorganized the establishment and gradually established the Manchu Eight Banners system. Later, Nurhachi compiled the Mongolian Eight Banners and the Han Eight Banners, collectively known as the Eight Banners Army. Before entering the customs, two of the Eight Banners, the Yellow Flag and the Yellow Flag, were under the direct command of Hanwang, while the other six were under the command of Hanwang's sons and nephews. After Dourgen's death, the emperor shunzhi took power and took over the white flag under Dourgen's jurisdiction under the order of the emperor, thus forming the upper three flags and the lower five flags. That is to say, the Qing emperor ruled his subordinates in Mobei grassland and northeast tribe as a great Khan, and thus obtained the support of grassland military nobles at the level of force. At the same time, the Qing emperor encouraged nomadic people in the grassland to believe in Tibetan Buddhism and wooed tribes in Mobei grassland and snowy plateau through marriage and other relations. Since then, after conquering the snowy plateau, the Qing Dynasty has also won the recognition of its dominant position in Tibetan areas by excellent political means, and given the reincarnation of Manjushri, the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The status of the highest living Buddha gave the Qing emperor special influence in many areas, including Tibetan areas and grasslands. However, neither Mobei grassland nor snowy plateau is the basis for maintaining the lasting rule of the Qing Dynasty, and the agricultural areas in the Central Plains that can provide sufficient financial income are the key to establishing the bureaucratic system of the Qing Dynasty. In the Central Plains, the Qing Dynasty attacked under the banner of revenge for the Ming Dynasty, and then attacked many small courthouses in Zhang and Nanming. After that, the Qing court began to maintain the operation of the bureaucratic system according to the Confucian ruling logic, and was recognized as the first emperor by most scholars. The distinction between China people and foreigners led to the instability of the legal system, although the rulers in the early Qing Dynasty were very good at finding commonalities between different regions and imperial courts, and eventually surpassed all regions in different capacities. But among them, Northeast China, Mobei and Zhongyuan, which provide military strength and fiscal revenue, are obviously the most important. However, compared with other feudal dynasties, the Qing Dynasty, which ruled the Central Plains with Confucianism, had a serious defect, which was the distinction between China people and foreigners. The distinction between China people and foreigners is a great obstacle to the study of etiquette, but the Qing Dynasty was a country established by foreigners, and its legal system was inconsistent. Although the literati class as a whole pretended to be blind because of military strength, the royal family of the Qing Dynasty itself was well aware of this congenital deficiency, which led to the Qing Dynasty being full of vigilance at home. Because of this, the Qing Dynasty always attached great importance to internal counterinsurgency, especially during the Daoguang period. When the first Opium War broke out, a bunch of big men in charge of the war ahead almost all came to power by counterinsurgency. Later, although Qishan, Bu, Yang Fang and others were punished or deposed because of the unfavorable opium war, they still regained the respect of the imperial court with their achievements in counterinsurgency and were able to make a comeback. The peasant uprising that ran through the Opium War actually reached Jiaqing, and the social contradictions in the Qing Dynasty were very prominent. At the turn of Jiaqing Daoguang, the Qing Dynasty broke out the Sichuan-Shaanxi-An Baili Rebellion and the Zhanggeer Rebellion successively, and the treasury of the Qing Dynasty was empty. Until the eve of the First Opium War, famine broke out in various parts of the Qing Dynasty, forcing the Qing army to disperse all over the country to prevent peasant uprisings. In fact, until the end of the Opium War, large-scale uprisings broke out everywhere. In order to prevent civil strife, Hubei Governor Liu was ordered to go to the coast to fight against the British army, but was stopped by Daoguang Emperor halfway to suppress the Bell Uprising that spread across the two lakes. Because of this, it is not difficult to understand that the Qing Dynasty chose to make peace with the invaders, although it still had the spare capacity to continue fighting with the British. As mentioned earlier, on the eve of the Opium War, the treasury of the Qing Dynasty was seriously inadequate, and the whole dynasty was in turmoil. At that time, Jiangnan was the economic center of the whole country, and Huizhou merchants and Zhejiang merchants were the two major business gangs at this time. After the British army approached Nanjing from the Yangtze River estuary, it blocked the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and cut off the grain transportation, which directly threatened the financial resources of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Britain was known as the empire, and its fleet had global sea control rights. The advantage of the British empire's sea control allows the British army to quickly assemble and land anywhere. Under the closed-door policy, the Qing Dynasty moved the coastal residents, which made China very passive in the face of British naval invasion. Compared with the emperors after the Qing Dynasty, Daoguang was much more active in resisting the British invasion. However, in the face of such a huge gap in the military level, we can only compromise. To sum up, because of the distinction between Chinese and foreigners, the legal system in the Qing Dynasty was unstable, and internal defense was more important than external defense. However, after a series of famines and uprisings, the Qing dynasty faced a serious financial crisis and the threat of rebellion, which bound some of its energy and strength. Finally, in the face of the strong military superiority of the British army and the suppression of the financial resources of the Qing court, they chose to compromise and summarize.