Wang Yangming called his best Assassins to the Forbidden City in an attempt to kill the Tigers before they could strike, but they were defeated. Those captured were tortured and killed using Ling Chi and all those suspected to have ties to the Assassins and those related to them were murdered. Ma Yongcheng, one of the Tigers known as "the Butcher" was the man who performed the executions.
The investigator in chief, Wei Bin, also known as "the Snake", was very thorough when it came to pointing fingers towards potential traitors. Many innocents were murdered following his orders. It appeared that no ally of the Assassins would escape "the Snake", this led Yangming to order a full retreat of all his agents from the Forbidden City, and of all possible allies, including the young Shao Jun.