Please ask Lin [2] to submit this to the Military Commission for consideration.

[1] This comment was written on a letter dated November 17, 1970, from Zhang Xiulong,
former commander of the Zhejiang Provincial Military Region of the Chinese People's
Liberation Army, to Mao Zedong and others. The letter stated that during your inspection
tour of Zhejiang in September 1967, you stated that Zhang Xiulong had made mistakes and
should be helped to correct them. However, I have been sidelined for several years and have
been training at a military farm in Hubei Province for over a year. I believe that my mistakes
during the Cultural Revolution were due to many subjective and objective factors, primarily
my inability to keep up with your thinking, my lack of awareness of the line, my poorly
shaped worldview, and my selfish thoughts. I bear all responsibility. However, I believe I am a
good person whose mistakes are a contradiction among the people. Yet, I have been
sidelined for so long, barred from political involvement, and prohibited from visiting my wife
(my wife is ill, and I am not allowed leave to visit her). I cannot understand this, so I am
writing to ask the Military Commission's office group to review my training here, provide
guidance on where I can strive, and allow me to visit my family at regular intervals. On
January 12, 1971, Li Desheng, a member of the Central Military Commission's working group
and director of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army, presented
Zhang Xiulong's letter to Mao Zedong for review. After Mao's approval, the working group
offered a favorable opinion on Zhang Xiulong's case: he should be hospitalized for treatment,
allowed to reunite with his family, resume his organizational activities, and await work
assignment. Zhang Xiulong later returned to military service as deputy commander of the
Hubei Provincial Military Region. After 1975, he held various positions, including commander
of the Hubei Provincial Military Region and deputy commander of the Wuhan Military
Region.
[2] Lin refers to Lin Biao, who was then Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Committee and
Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission