Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei

Historians generally believe that she was murdered by Xiaowen's wife, Empress Feng Run, who wanted to raise Yuan Ke herself.

Whether she was actually able to do so is unclear, but after she was discovered to have carried on an affair with her attendant Gao Pusa (高菩薩) in 499, she was put under house arrest, and Xiaowen ordered Yuan Ke to have no more contact with her.

Yuan Ke, at age 16, then took the throne as Xuanwu at Luyang (魯陽, in modern Pingdingshan, Henan), before the army could return to Luoyang.

In 500, with Southern Qi in disarray because of the tyrannical rule of its emperor Xiao Baojuan, Northern Wei annexed the important city of Shouyang (壽陽, in modern Lu'an, Anhui) when the Southern Qi general Pei Shuye (裴叔業) surrendered the city to Northern Wei in fear of adverse actions by Xiao Baojuan.

However, Northern Wei did not take further actions when Southern Qi was subsequently thrown into civil war during the rebellions of the generals Cui Huijing (崔慧景) and Xiao Yan.

Late in 501, Yuan Xi, displeased that his power wa being stripped and fearful that he would be killed, plotted a rebellion to secede with the provinces south of the Yellow River.

Meanwhile, the wars with Liang continued, and while both sides had gains and losses, Northern Wei made a substantial gain in 505 when the Liang general Xiaohou Daoqian (夏侯道遷) surrendered Nanzheng (南鄭, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi), as well as the surrounding region, to Northern Wei, which further annexed the semi-independent state Chouchi in spring 506.

In winter 505, Liang launched a major counterattack on the eastern part of the border, commanded by Emperor Wu's brother Xiao Hong (蕭宏) the Prince of Linchuan, but with Xiao Hong being an incompetent general, who mishandled a night terror situation in summer 506, while his army was at Luokou (洛口, in modern Bengbu, Anhui), the Liang forces collapsed by themselves without engaging Northern Wei forces.

The populace and the officials greatly mourned Yuan Xie's death, and grew increasingly resentful of Gao.

Because Xuanwu had lost multiple sons in childhood by that point, he carefully selected several experienced mothers to serve as Yuan Xu's wet nurses, and disallowed both Gao and Hu from seeing him.

During these years, Northern Wei and Liang continued to have relatively minor border battles, with each side having gains and losses.

In 514, however, Xuanwu commissioned Gao Zhao to launch a major attack against Liang's Yi Province (modern Sichuan and Chongqing).