At the age of fourteen, she was selected as a palace maid to Gaozong, then a Prince, and his first spouse and primary consort Xing, who had recently married.

[3] Consort Xing, the primary spouse of Gaozong, were among those captured and taken away: nothing more is known of her except that she was coveted by her captors, that she attempted suicide to escape abuse but failed, and that she died in captivity in 1139.

Gaozong then organized the resistance against further Jurchen invasion, declaring himself Emperor in late 1127 and establishing the Southern Song dynasty.

[5] Wu followed him on his military campaigns against Jin dressed in armor, and reportedly saved his life on one occasion when they were attacked by thugs, shooting one to death with an arrow, and frightening the rest away.

Empress Wu was praised by both her husband and her foster son Emperor Xiaozong for tolerating the large number of concubines and consorts Gaozong took without complaints.