Empress Dowager Cao (曹太后, personal name unknown) (died 3 August 925[1][2]), formally, Empress Zhenjian (貞簡皇后, "virtuous and humble"), was a concubine to the late Tang dynasty warlord Li Keyong.
She was the mother of his son, Li Cunxu, who went on to establish the Later Tang dynasty as its Emperor Zhuangzong.
It is not known when Lady Cao was born, but it is known that she was from Taiyuan, then the capital of the Tang dynasty Hedong Circuit (河東), and that she was of commoner, but of respectable birth.
[5] Li Keyong no longer favored other women, but Lady Cao remained an exception.
When Lady Dowager Cao heard this, she immediately summoned Li Cunxu to her palace and rebuked him.
Consort Dowager Liu stated to her:[11] May our son [(i.e., Emperor Zhuangzong)] have a long reign, such that after we both die and are buried, there will be people who can attend to our graves.
Other than this, what can we wish for?Later in the year, Emperor Zhuangzong captured the Later Liang capital Daliang (大梁, i.e., Bian Prefecture).
Lady Liu's candidacy also was opposed by Emperor Zhuangzong's army chief of staff Guo Chongtao.
By spring 924, however, Guo, who had feared that many of Emperor Zhuangzong's favorite eunuchs and performers (as Emperor Zhuangzong had a serious interest in acting) were submitting false accusations against him, decided to make Lady Liu an ally, and therefore endorsed her candidacy to be empress.
Empress Dowager Cao considered returning to Taiyuan to care for her, but Emperor Zhuangzong dissuaded her on account of the summer heat.
Mourning her, Empress Dowager Cao fell ill as well, and died a few months later.