Centuries before modern billionaires like Elon Musk, Mukesh Ambani, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault, and Mark Zuckerberg made fortunes, there was a woman who amassed wealth that surpassed the net ...

Within three years she gave birth to two sons, then a daughter who soon died. Wu accused the Empress Wang of strangling the child (whom she had reputedly murdered herself), and persuaded the ...