Praised as “with superb strategy and wonderful foresight” and “knowing the way for government”, she was a stateswoman of the Liao Dynasty. Emperor Jingzong was timid and afraid of trouble. All the punishments and rewards, administration, military actions and taxation were decided by Empress Xiao. Emperor Jingzong died. Empress Xiao’s son Yelü Longxu mounted the throne at the age of eleven, becoming Emperor Shengzong. Xiao was honored with the title of “Empress Dowager Receiving the Mandate of Heaven”. She presided in court and carried out a series of reforms. Politically, she put the Han officials in important positions, so as to strengthen her ruling power; economically, she introduced the taxation system, emancipated the slave, developed agricultural production and protected commerce; in foreign relations, she pursued the policy of “befriending distant states while attacking those nearby”, winning over the Western Xia Regime to fight against the Northern Song Dynasty. In 1004, Empress Dowager Xiao and Emperor Shengzong mounted a large-scale attack to the Song Dynasty and utterly defeated it in Mingzhou. After negotiations, the two states concluded the “Chanyuan Peace Treaty”.