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.

Following the Incident at the Gaoping Tombs in 249, and events of the previous rebellions at Shouchun in 251 and 255, the regency and almost complete control of Wei was in the hands of Sima Zhao and his clan.

Zhuge Dan had witnessed the rise and fall of both Wang Ling, and Guanqiu Jian, and also played an enormous role in the second revolt in Shouchun.

However, as his close friends Xiahou Xuan and Deng Yang had both been executed by the Sima clan, and as he had witnessed the downfall of Wang Ling and Guanqiu Jian, Zhuge Dan felt uneasy.

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.

(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.)

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.

With despair, Sun Chen ordered a departure from Shouchun to return to Jianye, determining that Zhuge Dan had no chance against Wei.

Zhuge Dan's deputies Jiang Ban (蔣班) and Jiao Yi (焦彝) advised him to focus on piercing a single flank of the encirclement to break the siege in an attempt to turn the tide.

Zhuge Dan mocked the weak advice of Jiao Yi and Jiang Ban and agreed with Wen Qin.

Wen Qin intelligently suggested to suspend the northerners under his control and the rest of the Wu forces in the city to conserve supplies.

Zhuge Dan, with all hope lost, fled from the city, but he was murdered by Hu Fen (胡奮)'s men during his desperate attempt to escape his fate.