Comrade Lin Biao: The troops should be sent to support the broad masses of leftists. Please
consider.
Mao Zedong
January 21
PS. From now on, whenever genuine revolutionaries request military support or assistance,
this should be done. The so-called non-intervention is false; we have already intervened. It
seems that a new order should be issued on this matter [2], and the previous order is invalid.
Please consider.

[1] On January 21, 1967, the Nanjing Military Region Party Committee of the Chinese
People's Liberation Army reported to Lin Biao, Vice Chairman of the Central Military
Commission of the Communist Party of China, and the Central Military Commission, stating,
"We have just received a report from the Capital, Anhui Military Region; the Third Rebel
Headquarters' Anhui Liaison Station, and other units have proposed to the Anhui Military
Region to hold a rally of 150,000 to 200,000 people in Hefei from the 22nd to the 23rd."
They also requested that the Anhui Military Region send 300 to 500 troops to guard the
venue. They stated that sending troops would mean supporting the Cultural Revolution,
while not doing so would mean not supporting it. They gave the Anhui Military Region a
deadline of 2:00 PM on the 21st to respond. Please give your instructions promptly on
whether to send troops."
[2] On January 23, 1967, the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, the Central Military
Commission, and the Central Cultural Revolution Group issued the "Decision on the People's
Liberation Army's Resolute Support for the Revolutionary Left."