In 311, he was proclaimed the leader of an uprising by Ba and Shu refugees in Jing and Xiang (湘州; in modern Hunan) provinces, who had been oppressed by the local populace.
Li Te's envoy, Yan Shi (閻式), managed to persuade Du Tao into helping the refugees by talking his superior into extending their stay.
In fact, Du Tao was inclined to give the refugees a year-long extension instead of Yan Shi's initial proposal of extending to winter.
As war between Cheng and Jin raged on, more refugees from Sichuan began fleeing west to the central Yangzi provinces of Jing and Xiang.
Li Xiang surrendered himself to the Inspector of Jing, Wang Cheng, who pretended to accept, but soon killed him and had 8,000 of his followers drowned in the Yangzi.
The Inspector of Guang, Guo Ne (郭訥), and Wang Cheng sent their generals to quell the rebellion, but Du Tao routed them.
Du Tao allowed his men to plunder and pillage, and for a brief while, he surrendered to the Jin commander, Shan Jian before resuming his revolt.
[6] In 312, Wang Cheng, faced with mounting defeats and falling popularity, accepted an offer by the Prince of Langya, Sima Rui in Yang province to give up his office as Inspector of Jing to serve as an official in Jianye.
Du Tao sent his subordinate Wang Zhen (王眞) to help the rebels by attacking Mianyang, enveloping Zhou Yi from two sides.
When Sima Rui rejected it, he then wrote a lengthy letter to Ying Zhan, justifying his rebellion by stating the oppression faced by his followers under the Jin regime.
[8] Du Tao sent his general Zhang Yan (張彥) to raid Yuzhang commandery (豫章, present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi).