After the destruction of both Later Tang and its successor state Later Jin (by the Khitan Liao dynasty), her adoptive son Li Congyi was forced to claim imperial title by the evacuating Liao forces, and both she and he were subsequently killed by the succeeding Later Han's founding emperor Liu Zhiyuan.
An Chonghui tried to curb her luxurious living by comparing her lifestyle to the terrible fate that Li Cunxu's wife Empress Liu suffered.
Later in the year, believing the accusations by the general Zhu Hongzhao that An was plotting rebellion, Li Siyuan had An put to death.
It became so worrisome for his chiefs of staff Fan Yanguang and Zhao Yanshou that both sought to leave the imperial court to become military governors (jiedushi)— requests that Li Siyuan considered insulting as he believed that they were abandoning him.
Zhao was allowed to leave first through the influence of his wife, Li Siyuan's daughter the Princess of Qi (to become the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan)).
Fan was subsequently able to leave as well, by persuade Consort Wang and Meng to speak on his behalf (to become the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei)).
They also wanted to summon their ally Meng Hanqiong, who was then temporarily overseeing the governance of Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei), back to Luoyang.
They therefore issued a series of orders (without an imperial edict) transferring Li Congke to Hedong, Shi to Chengde, and Fan Yanguang to Tianxiong.
Believing that defeat was inevitable, Li Congke gathered his family members, including Empress Dowager Cao, and a group of officers still loyal to him, to commit suicide by fire.
Empress Dowager Cao rejected her overture, stating:[11] My son, grandson, daughter-in-law, and granddaughters, have reached this point.
When Emperor Taizong saw her, he, claiming that he and Li Siyuan had previously agreed to be blood brothers, bowed to her, greeting her as a sister-in-law.
Emperor Taizong thus commissioned Liu Suining as the military governor of Anyuan Circuit (安遠, headquartered in modern Xiaogan, Hubei).
Believing that Li Congyi was still too young, Consort Dowager Wang declined the opportunity to have him report to the post, and took him back to Luoyang.
This led to many armed rebellions against him, and he, troubled by the situation, decided to head back to Khitan territory, leaving his brother-in-law Xiao Han in charge at Kaifeng.
He became ill on the way, and died near Heng Prefecture (恆州, in modern Shijiazhuang), plunging the succession into a battle between his nephew Yelü Ruan (supported by the army that attacked south, and who then declared himself emperor, as Emperor Shizong) and his brother Yelü Lihu (supported by his mother Empress Dowager Shulü).
He sent the officer Gao Mohan (高謨翰) to Luoyang under the name of the deceased Emperor Taizong, summoning Consort Dowager Wang and Li Congyi to Kaifeng.
Once there, Xiao declared Li Congyi emperor and, after leaving some of the soldiers from Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing, ceded by Shi Jingtang to Liao in appreciation of its support of him) to help defend Kaifeng, departed.
[1] Consort Dowager Wang realized that this left her and Li Congyi in a disastrous position, and when the officials left at Kaifeng greeted her, she wept and stated, She tried to firm up Kaifeng's defenses by summoning Gao Xingzhou the military governor of Guide Circuit (歸德, headquartered in modern Shangqiu, Henan) and Wu Xingde (武行德) the military governor of Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered in modern Jiaozuo, Henan), but neither paid her any heed.
Consort Dowager Wang, however, believed that resistance would be useless and that a siege would be disastrous to the people of Kaifeng, and therefore resolved to surrender.
She thus had Li Congyi, using the lesser title of Prince of Liang, submit a petition welcoming Liu to Kaifeng, and they moved out of the palace into a private residence.
As Consort Dowager Wang was facing death, she wept and stated, "My son was put into this position by the Khitan.
Why not allow him to live, such that each year, at Cold Food Festival, he could sacrifice a bowl of wheat grains to the tomb of Emperor Mingzong?"