Lady Gong was a concubine of Xiao Tong, the first crown prince of Liang dynasty's founder Emperor Wu.
Little is known about her background, including her birth family, and Xiao Cha himself appeared to be closer to Crown Princess Cai's nephew Cai Dabao (蔡大寶)[2] than he was with any maternal cousins he might have had.
In 549, while Liang was in a state of disarray after the fall of the capital Jiankang to the rebel general Hou Jing and the imperial princes were battling each other, Xiao Cha, then the Prince of Yueyang, was leading an army against his uncle Xiao Yi the Prince of Xiangdong to try to save his brother Xiao Yu (蕭譽) the Prince of Hedong (whom Xiao Yi's forces were besieging), when he left his headquarters Xiangyang in the hands of Cai Dabao and Lady Gong (who was at that time still referred to as Baolin, not as princess dowager), and they defended the city against a surprise attack by the general Du An (杜岸), who served under Xiao Cha but had defected to Xiao Yi.
When Xiao Cha retreated at night, Lady Gong, unaware of his military failure, mistook him for the enemy; only until the next morning did she realize that it was him and let him in.
While Emperor Xuan posthumously honored Xiao Tong as an emperor and Xiao Tong's wife Crown Princess Cai as an empress, he honored his mother as an empress dowager.