On April 28, 1952, the 10th Panchen Erdeni returned to Lhasa from Qinghai. The PLA troops who escorted him, and the 18th Army of the PLA Northwest Military Area,received directives from the Central Government not to “take food from the Tibetans while marching into Tibet.”However, there were only sufficient provisions to last less than four months, posing serious living difficulties for the military personnel in Tibet.