Note 55 — Chapter XXIII
Reading edition
Some people have thought that the four men were executed as a retaliation for the murder of the Wangs at Soo-chow, because, naturally enough, the Ti-pings considered the Europeans present were responsible for the atrocities. The four prisoners were members of Gordon's force, and it is just possible that they may have been put to death by some of the Soo-chow refugees.