She was nearly killed after her fourth removal in December 305, as Sima Yong, then holding Emperor Hui at Chang'an and leaving her in the capital Luoyang, became convinced that she was easily usable by his opponents as a rubber stamp, and so he ordered that she be forced to commit suicide.

The governor of the capital region, Liu Tun (劉暾; son of Jin official Liu Yi[11]) offered a petition to save her life, which nearly cost him his own—as Sima Yong ordered to have him arrested, and he was barely able to flee to Qingzhou with his life, and join Sima Lue, Prince of Gaomi.

However, after Liu's intercession, for whatever reason, Sima Yong cancelled the order to force her to commit suicide.

After Sima Yue's death in April 311, the Jin armies were in shambles and unable to protect Luoyang any further.

Luoyang soon fell to Han's armies in July (Disaster of Yongjia), led by the generals Huyan Yan, Wang Mi, Shi Le, and Liu Yao the Prince of Shi'an.

Liu Yao burnt most of Luoyang and executed a large number of Jin officials, but did not kill Empress Yang; instead, he took her as his own wife.

In 318, after the Han prime minister Jin Zhun massacred the Han imperial family and nobles in the capital Pingyang (平陽, in modern Linfen, Shanxi) after a coup, the officials who fled from the massacre offered the throne to Liu Yao, who accepted.