Background
Fu Shou was the daughter of Fu Wan, Marquis of Buqi, and Liu Ying, who had been Princess of Yang’an during the reign of Emperor Huan. There is no exact information about the date and the place of her birth.
伏壽
Fu Shou was the daughter of Fu Wan, Marquis of Buqi, and Liu Ying, who had been Princess of Yang’an during the reign of Emperor Huan. There is no exact information about the date and the place of her birth.
Fu Shou was selected to enter the palace in 190, the year after General-in-Chief Dong Zhuo overthrew Emperor Shao, installed eight-year-old Liu Xie in his place, and moved the capital to Chang’an. She was initially appointed as a Worthy Lady but in 195 she was appointed empress.
Emperor Xian continued his reign of being constantly under the control of one warlord or another. Later in 195, during Emperor Xian's flight back to the old capital Luoyang, Empress Fu was carrying silk, which was seized by soldiers ostensibly protecting her. When they returned to Luoyang, the imperial court was poorly supplied and while there is no record indicating that Empress Fu personally was under threat of starvation, a number of imperial officials died of hunger or were killed by robbers. Materially, the imperial court became much better supplied once the warlord Cao Cao arrived in 196 and took Emperor Xian and the imperial court under control.
Empress Fu was apparently not happy about Cao Cao's domination over the imperial court and central government. She wrote her father Fu Wan a letter accusing Cao Cao of cruelty and implicitly asking him to come up with a plan to eliminate Cao Cao. Fu Wan was fearful and did not act on the letter, but Empress Fu's letter was discovered in 214. Cao Cao was so angry that he forced Emperor Xian to depose Empress Fu. When Emperor Xian was reluctant to do so, Cao Cao sent Hua Xin and close aides into the imperial palace to capture the Empress. Empress Fu tried to hide behind a wall, but Cao Cao's men found her and dragged her out. As she was being taken away, she cried out to Emperor Xian to save her, but his only response was that he had no idea what would happen to him.
One record states that Cao Cao “killed” her in the eleventh month. Her two sons were poisoned, and over 100 members of her family were put to death.
Fu Shou was the first wife of Emperor Xian. She had at least two sons.