The military governors of Shouchun (present-day Shou County, Anhui) rose in revolt thrice in the name of a rebellion to oust the Sima clan from power.

After the Incident at Gaoping Tombs, Sima Yi promoted Wang Ling, the general in charge of Shouchun, to the rank of Grand Commandant (太尉).

Wang Ling and his nephew Linghu Yu (令狐愚) felt that the emperor Cao Fang was too young to rule, and saw that Sima Yi was actually the one in control of state power.

In the spring of 251, Wang Ling seized the opportunity to send a petition to the Wei court, asking for permission to attack Eastern Wu forces in Tushui (塗水).

Guanqiu Jian, who was stationed in Shouchun, and Wen Qin, the Inspector of Yang Province, heard news about the deaths of Li Feng, Xiahou Xuan and Zhang Ji, and became afraid of being implicated.

The armies led by Zhuge Dan, Hu Zun (胡遵) and Deng Ai arrived and merged with Sima Shi's main force.

Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin were unable to engage the enemy and were worried that they might be ambushed if they retreated back to Shouchun.

Guanqiu Jian was later killed by a civilian called Zhang Shu (張屬) in Shen County (慎縣) and his head sent to the capital Luoyang.

When Wen Qin returned to Xiang County (項縣) he saw that Shouchun had fallen to Zhuge Dan and the rebel army had disbanded.

Zhuge Dan had witnessed the deaths of Wang Ling and Guanqiu Jian after their failed rebellions and he felt uneasy.

Sima Zhao wanted to eliminate the remaining loyalists to the state, so he heeded Jia Chong's advice to force Zhuge Dan to rebel.

Zhuge Dan received an imperial decree to report to the Wei court and assume the post of Excellency of Works.

However, Zhuge Dan became afraid after receiving the decree, so he killed Yue Lin, the Inspector of Yang Province, and rebelled against Sima Zhao.

The Wu general Zhu Yi garrisoned at Anfeng (安豐), southwest of Shouchun, as backup, but was defeated by Zhou Tai.

He sent Zhu Yi, along with Ding Feng and Li Fei (黎斐) to break the siege on Shouchun, but were defeated by Shi Bao and Zhou Tai.

The Wei general Hu Lie (胡烈) led a surprise attack on the Wu forces and succeeded in destroying the enemy's supplies.

Zhuge Dan's deputies Jiang Ban (蔣班) and Jiao Yi (焦彝) advised him to concentrate on attacking a single flank of the encirclement to break the siege.

In February 258, Zhuge Dan, Wen Qin and Tang Zi attempted to break out of the siege again but failed and suffered heavy casualties.

Not long after Sima Zhao's death in September 265, his son Sima Yan forced the last Wei ruler Cao Huan to abdicate in his favour in February 266, thus ending Wei's existence and founding the Western Jin dynasty, which united the land after Wu, the last of the Three Kingdoms, surrendered in 280.