staying in Consort Duan's quarters. A group of palace women pretended to wait on him, tied a rope around his neck and attempted to strangle him. They failed to do so and, in the meantime, one of them got cold feet and went to alert Empress Fang. The empress hurried over, and the palace eunuchs revived the emperor. The palace women were all arrested. Participants The role of each individual in the attempt on the emperor's life was judged and recorded as below: Concubine Ning, of the Wang clan (宁嫔王氏), head of the plot Consort Duan, the assault happened in her quarters Chen Juhua (陈菊花), personally involved in strangling the emperor Deng Jinxiang (邓金香), conspired to murder the emperor Guan Meixiu (关梅秀), personally involved in strangling the emperor Huang Yulian (黄玉莲), conspired to murder the emperor Liu Miaolian (刘妙莲), personally involved in strangling the emperor Su Zhouyao (苏川药), personally involved in strangling the emperor Wang Xiulan (王秀兰), personally involved in strangling the emperor Xing Cuilian (邢翠莲), personally involved in strangling the emperor Xu Qiuhua (徐秋花), conspired to murder the emperor Yang Cuiying (杨翠英), personally involved in strangling the emperor Yang Jinying (杨金英), personally involved in strangling the emperor Yang Yuxiang (杨玉香), personally involved in strangling the emperor Yao Shucui (姚淑翠), personally involved in strangling the emperor Zhang Chunjing (张春景), conspired to murder the emperor Zhang Jinlian (张金莲), reported the murder attempt to Empress Fang Aftermath After the attack, the Jiajing Emperor was unconscious for several days, so Empress Fang set the punishment for the palace women. She ordered all of them, including Zhang Jinlian, who had informed her of the attack, to death by slow slicing. Although Consort Duan had not been present, the empress decided that she had been involved with the plot and sentenced her to death too. The bodies of the palace women, Imperial Concubine Ning, and Consort Duan were then displayed. 10 members of the women's families were also beheaded, while a further 20 were enslaved and gifted to ministers. Consequences Although the Jiajing Emperor had been incapacitated at the time, he resented Empress Fang for having killed his favourite concubine, Consort Duan. He later determined Consort Duan had been innocent and suspected the Empress of using the situation to rid herself of a hated rival. In 1547, when a fire destroyed parts of the palace, the emperor refused to have Empress Fang rescued, and she