well as engaging witches to pray to gods to help her stay beautiful. At times, her beauty was compared to goddesses. As Chen Shubao was not much interested in the matters of state, whenever he had important petitions to decide on, he would hold Consort Zhang on his lap and have her read the petition and rule on it. She therefore became very powerful politically as well, and so she and Consort Kong (who, while not related to the high-level official Kong Fan (孔範), referred to Kong Fan as her brother) became ones that people would bribe and beg when they had special requests. The officials soon were forced to first discuss important matters with Consorts Zhang and Kong before they could discuss them with the emperor. Because of Chen Shubao's favor for Consort Zhang, he also most favored her sons Chen Yuan and Chen Zhuang among his sons. In 588, he deposed his oldest son and crown prince Chen Yin because he suspected Chen Yin (who, while not born of Empress Shen, was raised by her and considered her son) of despising him for not favoring Empress Shen. He replaced Chen Yin with Chen Yuan. In 589, the Sui dynasty launched a major attack, and with Chen Shubao not paying attention to his generals requesting aid, Sui forces were quickly able to reach and capture the Chen capital Jiankang. Chen Shubao and Consorts Zhang and Kong hid in a well, but were eventually found and taken captive. Chen Shubao was spared (and eventually treated with kindness by Emperor Wen of Sui), as were Chen Yuan and Chen Zhuang, but the Sui general Gao Jiong, blaming her for Chen's collapse and comparing her to Daji, the wicked wife of King Zhou of Shang who was beheaded by the Zhou dynasty general Jiang Ziya after Zhou conquered Shang, beheaded her despite an order from Emperor Wen's son Yang Guang the Prince of Jin, who commanded the entire operation, to spare her. (Whether Yang Guang wanted to seize her as his own concubine can only be speculated.) In 607, after Yang Guang had succeeded Emperor Wen in 604 (as Emperor Yang), he executed Gao after Gao who had expressed disagreement with him on the large amount of award that he was giving to Tujue's submissive Qimin Khan. Many traditional historians believed that he was punishing Gao for having executed Consort Zhang despite