affection to other concubines. In response, Emperor Cheng reduced the budget of the empress' palace. She filed a formal objection with her husband, to which he made a formal reply in the form of an edict upholding the reduction in expenditures. Nevertheless, it did not appear that their relationship was severely strained. However, a decade later, Empress Xu would meet her downfall. Circa 19 BC, when Emperor Cheng was visiting Princess Yang'a (陽阿公主), he became enamored with her dancing girl Zhao Feiyan (趙飛燕) and her sister Zhao Hede (趙合德) and made them his concubines, and they were favored over Empress Xu and Consort Ban. In late 18 BC, the Zhao sisters falsely accused Empress Xu and Consort Ban of witchcraft. On 8 January 17 BC, Empress Xu was deposed and put under house arrest in a subsidiary palace. Consort Ban was spared after successfully pleading her case, but she did not wish to return to the same environment and instead became a lady in waiting for Empress Dowager Wang. After removal as empress Empress Xu was presumably still given the proper supplies as a former empress, but was distressed about the loss of her status and her freedom. Circa 10 BC, she made an attempt to better her situation. At that time, her sister Xu Mi, after the death of her husband Han Bao (韓寶), the Marquess of Long'e, carried on an affair with Emperor Cheng's powerful cousin Chunyu Zhang, who was well-trusted by Emperor Cheng and considered a possible successor to their uncle Wang Gen as the commander of the armed forces. Empress Xu asked her sister to ask Chunyu to intercede on her behalf, and she gave Chunyu many gifts. Her intent was to regain her freedom and again become an imperial consort—she was initially not hopeful of regaining her empress status. Chunyu, in order to continue to get gifts from her, deceived her and told her that he would try to have her made "left empress"—i.e., returned to empress status in an inferior role to Empress Zhao. Chunyu had no actual intentions to help her, however. Chunyu himself was in trouble, however, in 8 BC. Wang Gen was ill at the time, and there was speculation that Chunyu would succeed him. Wang Gen's nephew Wang Mang (王莽), who also wanted to succeed Wang Gen, obtained information about Chunyu's corruption and reported the information to Wang Gen and