She was pivotal in encouraging her husband to create a granary in the Ming capital, Nanjing, which would provide food for the families of students who were attending the national university there. The Hongwu Emperor did not like her involvement in politics and state affairs, and attempted to curb this by establishing regulations that prohibited empresses and consorts from intervening in state affairs. He also forbade women below the rank of empress and consort from leaving the palaces unattended. Empress Ma reacted by telling her husband that as he was the father of the people, she was their mother; how then could their mother stop caring for the comfort of her children? Famous for her humility and plain living, the empress continued wearing common clothing until they were old and worn out. She provided blankets and curtains woven of rough silk to orphans and widows, and gave leftover material to the wives of princes so that they would come to appreciate and value sericulture. There is no mention in her official biography that Empress Ma ever gave birth to any children. For a long period of time, it was believed she was the mother of the first five of her husband's twenty-six sons. Modern historians believe she produced no offspring, but instead was given the emperor’s first five sons to raise as her own. Ma maintained good relations with her husband’s concubines and palace women, ensuring impartial reprimand to those who violated the law for any reason (this she did in order to spare them from her husband’s infamously cruel temper). She concerned herself with her adopted sons’ education, selecting renowned Confucian scholars for their educators, and personally oversaw the instruction of their wives in etiquette and ritual. She ordered a compilation of the deeds of wise and virtuous empresses and consorts during the Song Dynasty, as well as an observation of the palace regulations that existed during that era, which she would teach to the palace women in study groups. She had a tremendous impact on the future empress of the Yongle Emperor, Xu Yihua. In the fall of 1382, the empress grew ill. Before she died, she again offered counsel to her husband, that he value talent, listen to the advice of his ministers, be careful in deciding matters, and ensure he finished all he set out to do. Empress Ma was buried at Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing, and was granted the posthumous title "Xiaocigao".