In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao had Fu Wan and Mu Shun's entire clans exterminated, more than two hundred people in all.
Empress Fu had been so terrified that she hid behind the palace screen wall, but Cao Cao's armored soldiers still smashed through the wall, dragged her out, and killed her. The two princes she had borne were also poisoned to death.
Bai Xiaowen was not as ruthless as Cao Cao, but when it was time to act, he would not go easy either. He executed more than seventy members of Fu Wan and Mu Shun's families, while all the remaining servants and household members were exiled to Liaodong to develop the Northeast.
After Fu Wan was executed, Hua Xin led armored soldiers into the palace by force. He first took Empress Fu's seal, then had her taken away.
The Emperor pleaded desperately. Hua Xin rebuked him, "The Prince of Yan is fighting bloody battles outside, yet you plotted to murder a pillar of the state. Your foolishness has reached the extreme. Do you know that without the Prince of Yan, you would not even know where your soul would end up?"
The Emperor clung to Empress Fu and wept bitterly, while the two princes also knelt on the ground and cried without end.
Hua Xin said, "At a time like this, you are still putting on this display of familial affection!" He ordered the armored soldiers to seize Empress Fu.
Once the act had been played out sufficiently, an edict arrived: "By order of the Prince of Yan, Empress Fu is to be temporarily spared and handed over to His majesty for judgment."
The Emperor could scarcely believe his ears. He had already prepared himself for Empress Fu's death, yet there was an unexpected turn