Zhuge Dan's Rebellion, or the Third Rebellion in Shouchun, was a revolt led by Zhuge Dan, a general from the state of Cao Wei, against the regent Sima Zhao. Zhuge Dan received some support from Eastern Wu, Cao Wei's rival state. It was the third and final of a series of three rebellions that took place in Shouchun (壽春; present-day Shou County, Anhui) in the 250s during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Background
Following the events of the previous rebellions in Shouchun and the Incident at Gaoping Tombs, the regency and almost complete control of Wei was in the hands of Sima Zhao and his clan. After the second uprising, Sima Shi died, giving control to his second brother, Sima Zhao. The Wei emperor was Cao Mao, and since Wen Qin fled to Eastern Wu, Shouchun's affairs were given to the Wei general Zhuge Dan. Zhuge Dan had witnessed the rise and fall of both Wang Ling, and Guanqiu Jian, and also playing an enormous role in the second revolt in Shouchun. However, as Xiahou Xuan and Deng Yang, both been executed by the Sima clan, were his close friends, and having witnessed the downfall of Wang Ling and Guanqiu Jian, Zhuge Dan felt uneasy. Zhuge Dan began increasing his popularity in the Huai River region, and also hired many bodyguards.
Trigger
In the winter of 256, Eastern Wu sent troops to attack Xuye (徐堨). While Zhuge Dan was able to handle it, he requested 100,000 more troops from the Wei imperial court, and planned to build castles to defend the region. Sima Zhao felt that Zhuge Dan was behaving suspiciously, so he sent his close aide Jia Chong to meet Zhuge Dan and assess whether he was loyal to the Wei emperor Cao Mao or to Sima Zhao. After Jia Chong reported that Zhuge Dan supported the emperor, Sima Zhao sent him an imperial order in the emperor's name, instructing him to return to Luoyang to serve as Minister of Works. (While this appeared to be a promotion for Zhuge Dan, it was actually to remove him from his military command in Shouchun and recall him back to Luoyang, where he would be under Sima Zhao's watch.)
Zhuge Dan knew that Sima Zhao was suspecting him after he received the order. He murdered his immediate superior Yue Lin, the Inspector of Yang Province, seized control of the 40,000 to 50,000 troops stationed there, and rebelled against Sima Zhao. He sent his Chief Clerk Wu Gang (吳綱) to Eastern Wu with his son Zhuge Jing as a hostage, asking for reinforcements from Wu. In response, Wu sent more reinforcements as compared to during the second Shouchun rebellion, giving Zhuge Dan huge numbers. Sima Zhao also mobilised Wei forces from throughout the Wei Empire to suppress Zhuge Dan's rebellion.
Rebellion
Wu efforts
Sima Zhao's first intentional moves were to station a vast size of 260,000 men at Qiutou, a key location near Shouchun. He ordered Wang Ji and Chen Qian to lead a siege unit to Shouchun in an early effort to deal massive casualties in the early part of the uprising. Knowing that Wu was sending massive numbers of soldiers towards the south of Shouchun, Sima Zhao sent a massive number of his troops under Shi Bao and two other generals in an attempt to halt the advance of Wu support forces. The Wu forces led by Wen Qin, who rebelled previously, Quan Yi and Tang Zi predicted this move, and rushed to successfully enter Shouchun before the Wei siege forces could encircle Zhuge Dan. In a counterattack effort, Wen Qin led his men to break out of the siege several times but failed. When this happened, the Wu forces under Zhu Yi also failed in an effort to deal damage to the Wei forces, when he led backup troops from the southwest position of Shouchun at Anfeng garrison, but he was quickly driven off by Wei forces. He managed to escape back to Sun Chen. Sun Chen then had his forces led by Ding Feng, Li Fei, and Zhu Yi to move their forces closer to the direction of Lake Chao, where they would strike the Wei forces at Shouchun to stop the siege. Wei forces quickly moved to intercept their forces on the way upwards towards Shouchun, successfully routing the large chunk of Wu forces Sun Chen sent with them. Morale plummeted on the side of Zhuge Dan and Wu. With back to back futile efforts and defeat, Sun Chen executed Zhu Yi. When they were routed, ironically, the Wu supplies were destroyed in a Wei surprise attack led by Hu Lie. Many troops either surrendered to Sima Zhao's forces or abandoned Wu's ranks. With despair, Sun Chen ordered a departure from Shouchun to return to Jianye, in determination that Zhuge Dan had no chance against Wei.