To completely control her, Liang Ji planned to have her mother, Lady Xuan, killed, and in fact sent assassins against her, but the assassination was foiled by the powerful eunuch Yuan She (袁赦), a neighbor of Lady Xuan.
This set in motion a series of events that led to Liang Ji's downfall, as Emperor Huan, angry about the assassination attempt, formed a conspiracy with five powerful eunuchs and overthrew Liang in a coup d'etat later in September 159.
However, his affection was not undivided, and he had a large number of other favorites, including Consorts Guo and Tian.
Empress Deng became very arrogant and jealous, and she and Consort Guo engaged in a series of false accusations against each other.
On 27 March 165,[2] Emperor Huan decided to rid himself of Empress Deng and ordered her deposed and imprisoned.