In 209, after the Battle of Red Cliffs, the former Yuan Shu general Chen Lan and Mei Cheng (梅成) started a rebellion in Lu county (六縣; in present-day Lu'an, Anhui). Cao Cao sent two separate forces to suppress the rebellion: Yu Jin and Zang Ba to attack Mei Cheng and the other force consisting Zhang Liao, with Zhang He and Niu Gai (牛蓋) as his deputy.
As soon as the two forces clashed, Mei Cheng pretended to surrender to Yu Jin, and then led his men to join Chen Lan at Mount Tianzhu as soon as Yu Jin and Zang Ba left. On the other hand, Zhang Liao was worried that Sun Quan would send his general, Han Dang, with an army to assist Chen in resisting Cao Cao's forces. Han Dang was in charge of defending Huan, a major city in Lujian at that time, so Zhang Liao sent Zang Ba to attack Han Dang in Huan to ensure that he could not move to reinforce the rebels. Zang Ba attacked Huan, but Han Dang defended the city well and succeeded in driving Zang Ba back. Later Sun Quan dispatched a force of some 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers to assist Chen Lan but Zang Ba was able to ambush and drive off the reinforcement sent by Sun Quan. However Zang Ba did not stop there as he gave chase at night and attacked in the morning. Many soldiers of Sun Quan could not board their ships, and were forced into the water and drowned. Without the intervention from Sun Quan, Zhang Liao suppressed Chen Lan's rebellion and both he and Mei Chen were beheaded.