This was the first of a series of three rebellions that all took place in Shouchun (壽春; present-day Shou County, Lu'an, Anhui) in the 250s during the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history.

For his efforts, Wang Ling was promoted to "General of Chariots and Cavalry" (車騎將軍), enfeoffed as the "Marquis of Nan District" (南鄉侯), and had the number of taxable households in his marquisate increased to 1,350.

Around the time, Wang Ling's maternal nephew, Linghu Yu (令狐愚), was appointed as the Inspector of Yan Province for his contributions and was stationed at Ping'e County (平阿縣).

After Sima Yi eliminated Cao Shuang and his clan in the Incident at the Gaoping Tombs in February 249, Wang Ling was reassigned to the position of Grand Commandant (太尉) and given a ceremonial axe to represent his authority.

Between late September and October 249, Linghu Yu sent his subordinate Zhang Shi (張式) to Boma (白馬) to contact Cao Biao.

Pei Songzhi claimed that Xi Zuochi fabricated this account because the tone and writing style of Wang Guang's reply was different from that in earlier records.

Acting on imperial order, Sima Yi sent a Registrar (主簿) to unbind Wang and reassure him and return him his official seal and ceremonial axe.

Wang Ling knew that he had committed a capital offence, so he wanted to test whether Sima Yi was sincere about sparing him.

Wang Ling and Linghu Yu's bodies were exhumed from their graves and exposed to the public for three days in a nearby city, while their official seals and court dresses were burnt and buried.

The revolt, along with the Incident at the Gaoping Tombs, is often considered a turning point in the decline of Wei and the mark of the beginning of the rise of the Sima clan.

The rebellion, along with the other two uprisings, are all featured as playable stages in the Jin Story Mode in the seventh instalment of Koei's Dynasty Warriors video game series.