Empress Cao
In 931, Meng Hanqiong was additionally made the acting director of the eunuch bureau (內侍省, "Neishi Sheng"). It was said that while Fan Yanguang and Zhao Yanshou served as the chiefs of staff, they feared being accused of power-grabbing, just as An had, so they often declined to rule on important matters. The decisions thus often fell into the hands of Consort Wang and Meng. While An was alive, he had put a strict limit on palace expenditures. Now, with Meng being powerful, he often simply had various items retrieved from the government treasury, claiming orders from Li Siyuan's wife Empress Cao, without notifying the office of the chiefs of staff or the three financial agencies (taxation, treasury, and salt and iron monopolies), and without keeping records of them.