Since 1977, Ding Sheng has left his job. He served as commander of the military region in Guangzhou and Nanjing, serving for eight full years, and it stands to reason that his retirement should be quite good.
However, in fact, his life after retirement was relatively difficult, and when he went to Beijing to run errands, his comrades-in-arms learned of his difficulties and specially gave him various supplies. So what kind of life does Ding Sheng live after retirement?
How did his comrades help him?
In May 1990, Ding Sheng and his wife went to Beijing to handle affairs. Due to the complexity of their work, they stayed in the capital for several months, but did not make significant progress. In order to ask for help, they decided to first visit their former superior, Marshal **.
However, at that time, Marshal *** was over ninety years old and was not in very good health, so it was not appropriate to visit him directly. Ding Sheng and his wife found Zhou Junlun, the person in charge of the marshal's office, and expressed their thoughts, and Zhou Junlun suggested that they write a report first for advice.
** When the marshal learned of Ding Sheng's arrival, he was very happy, and the two sides talked. After some comrades-in-arms in Beijing learned of Ding Sheng's situation, they provided him with various supplies to express their hearts.
Ding Sheng's affairs in Beijing were not going well, and the weather was getting colder, so he decided to leave first. Before leaving Beijing, he went to Tianjin for a few days at the invitation of his former colleagues and offered condolences to many martyrs.
Before leaving, the former colleagues knew that he was living in difficulty, and gave him oil stamps, food stamps and change, all of which were saved by everyone by saving money, which made Ding Sheng deeply moved, because this was the sincere friendship of his former colleagues.
The 54th Army led by Ding Sheng won two famous battles, the "Jincheng Victory" and the "Warong Victory". In the "Jincheng Victory", despite the large number of enemy troops and strong firepower, the 54th Army led by Ding Sheng held on to the position for half a month, and finally cooperated with the friendly army to carry out **, a total of 1More than 40,000 enemies.
In the "Great Victory of Walong", the 54th Army was even smaller and larger, and cooperated with other troops to annihilate more than 530,000 enemies. Most of these former subordinates came from the 54th Army, and together they wrote this glorious history.
In October 1962, when the Sino-Indian border self-defense counterattack was raging, Ding Sheng decided to take action to undermine the enemy's morale. He commanded the 54th Army in the Warong area to wage a battle of annihilation, which led to a great victory, forcing the enemy into deep mountains, dense forests and canyons.
The battle completely crushed the fighting spirit of the Indian army, and it is said that the Indians still have lingering fears about the battle to this day. After the war, the former robes still maintained a deep friendship, which is a rare and affectionate friendship.
However, why did Ding Sheng's life become difficult after retirement? Let's unravel this mystery.
In 1977, after Ding Sheng retired from the post of commander of the military region, he was treated no different from other retired soldiers. The organization originally planned to arrange him in Nanchang and pay him 150 yuan a month for living expenses and regular subsidies.
However, Ding Sheng felt that his physical condition was deteriorating day by day and wanted to be with his family, while his family was in Nanjing, so he chose to move to Nanjing. Although his living expenses in Nanjing remained the same, he had lost a lot of rations because his hukou was in Nanchang, so he only had a living allowance of 150 yuan a month to feed his family, and he had a hard time.
Ding Sheng's life in Nanjing was difficult due to the cold weather, and although it was possible to heat the heat by burning boilers, heating stoves, or coal stoves, these methods were unsafe and expensive. In order to change the situation, he asked his daughter to consider finding a job in Guangdong or Shenzhen, and then the family moved there.
Although the winter in Guangzhou is relatively warm, it means that Ding Sheng is very painful to pass on the financial burden to his daughter. After his daughter left home, Ding Sheng often suffered from insomnia and only shed tears until the whole family was reunited.
The new copy highlights Ding Sheng's difficult situation and his concern for his daughter, while also expressing his tenacity and deep love for his family.
In 1989, Ding Sheng settled in Shenzhen, but the high price at that time made his 150 yuan living expenses stretch. The family is crammed into a small house and uses various means to make ends meet.
By 1993, Ding Sheng's "living allowance" had increased, and he could get 200 yuan per month, and at the same time, the living allowance and ** subsidy were also the same as those of local retired cadres and people, and his living conditions improved.
In order to improve the living standard of his family, Ding Sheng's attitude towards life has changed a lot and he has become very frugal. For example, when taking the bus in Shenzhen, everyone waited for a long time to make change, and Ding Sheng's wife complained: "It costs 7 cents to get on the bus here, which is too inconvenient, so it is better to collect a piece directly like Guangzhou." ”
Hearing this, Ding Sheng immediately objected: "I don't agree with your opinion, I don't bother, I am still willing to save these three cents ......."”
In 1993, Ding Sheng and his wife returned to Nanjing from Jinan, and they chose two hard sleeper tickets because of the high price of soft sleeper tickets. However, at that time, they were all very old, and the upper and lower three layers of hard sleeper cars were a great challenge for them.
Without hesitation, Ding Sheng gave up the ticket to his wife, and then climbed to the top bunk himself. When he climbed into the top bunk, panting and resting for a long time.
However, the trip was so arduous that Ding Sheng even fell ill as a result. His wife blamed him for being too frugal, but he just smiled and didn't respond. Later, the military region command decided to let Ding Sheng settle down in the cadre rest house and give him divisional treatment.
His life has since improved. Perhaps because of the improvement in living conditions, or perhaps because of the joy he felt back in the army, his physical condition improved significantly.
I'm no longer the commander, so you can call me Lao Ding. In fact, Ding Sheng has completely integrated into the lives of ordinary people, because it is difficult to imagine a former commander of the military region haggling in the vegetable market.
Ding Sheng's story makes people wonder, although he is thrifty, why is life still so difficult? At that time, the salary of a worker was only a few dozen yuan, and he had a monthly subsidy of 200 yuan, and if it was used reasonably, life should not be too hard.
However, this idea is not accurate, mainly because of the lack of understanding of the wage system and price level of that era. At the time of the first wage reform in 1956, people's wages were really low, and there were 24 levels in total.
Even the first-level salary that only *** and others can get is only 594 yuan. In fact, ** and others only received a fourth-level salary, that is, 425 yuan.
200 yuan was already the salary of the eleventh level cadre, and this level was already the treatment of a full teacher at that time. Therefore, we need to have an in-depth understanding of the salary system and price level of that era in order to accurately understand Ding Sheng's living conditions.
Over the past three decades, the wage scale has generally remained at the level of 1956, although there have been minor adjustments. This is due to the fact that from the 50s to the 80s of the last century, prices changed relatively little.
However, from 1972 onwards, prices began to increase significantly. In particular, after the two wage reforms in 1985 and 1993, China implemented a structural wage system and a rank wage system, which divided the salaries of government staff into 65 sub-levels and 12 job levels.
As a result of this reform, everyone's wages have increased significantly, for example, the monthly salary of the 10th level staff can even reach nearly 200 yuan.
According to statistics, in 1980, the average monthly salary of workers in the country was only 64 yuan, but in 1991, this figure rose to nearly 200 yuan. Compared with today's data, the average monthly salary of employees in the non-private sector in 2022 has reached 8,114 yuan, while the overall average salary, including the private sector, is even lower.
Such an income may be able to barely make ends meet in a family with no other burdens in a third- or fourth-tier city, but in a large city with a large population and a high cost of living, such as Shenzhen, it will undoubtedly bring pressure to live.
From this, we can understand why Ding Sheng's retirement life will be more difficult, because wages and prices at that time are very volatile.
Although Ding Sheng's life was hard, the secret of his optimism was to "rely on his family, organization and comrades-in-arms". Although his family's life is not easy, their love and support for each other bring comfort and happiness.
The organization also cared for Ding Sheng very thoughtfully, raised his living expenses many times, and took him to the military region to arrange housing for him, which reduced his pressure. Ding Sheng's comrades-in-arms are also very enthusiastic about him, whether it is when he goes to Beijing or in ordinary interactions, he can feel the love and support of his comrades-in-arms.
In general, Ding Sheng was able to maintain an optimistic attitude by relying on the support and companionship of his family, organization and comrades-in-arms.
Ding Sheng had a hard time, and after his old subordinates learned about the situation, they often helped him by sending money and inviting him to travel. At first, Ding Sheng refused to accept the money, because he knew that it was not easy for everyone, but everyone proved their sincerity with practical actions, such as not even writing their names and sending them directly to the door, which made Ding Sheng unable to refuse.
For him, these friendships are more important than money. In addition to sending money, the old subordinates often invited Ding Sheng to visit various places. In addition to Beijing and Tianjin, he also traveled to Beihai, Wuhan, Jinan, Shenyang and Hainan Island.
Every time he went to these places, his old subordinates or old comrades-in-arms would give him a warm welcome, including food and lodging, and even round-trip air tickets were bought by his comrades-in-arms.
This comradeship-in-arms makes us deeply admire. As the saying goes, "It is difficult to send charcoal in the snow, and it is easy to add icing on the cake", but it is the opposite for Ding Sheng. When he was still the commander of the military region, his old subordinates were afraid of causing him trouble, so they rarely took the initiative to contact him; And when he was having a hard time, everyone came to visit.
The most touching thing is that once he was sick and hospitalized, his condition was serious, and he stayed for nearly a month, and the medical expenses reached more than 5,000 yuan. This amount of money is undoubtedly a huge amount of money for him, because his monthly salary is only 200 yuan, and his family still has children to support.
However, the organization helped to reimburse part of it, and his old comrades-in-arms and old subordinates also took the initiative to pool money for him. This experience made us deeply feel the sincerity and selflessness of the comradeship.
In his life journey, he has always been accompanied by his family and given him meticulous care. His family is his solid backing and a warm current in his life.
His life was enriched by the presence of his family. He left us in September 1999 due to illness, but his story will remain in our hearts forever.
At the memorial service, his old subordinates and old comrades-in-arms were deeply moved, and they used wreaths to express their admiration and nostalgia for him. Some call him a general, some call him a commander, and some call him a close friend.
Either way, it expresses their admiration and nostalgia for him. Although Ding Sheng's life is over, his spirit will live on forever. As he said on his deathbed: "If I hadn't participated in the revolution, I would have been just a cowherd baby, and I wouldn't have the life I have now, and I wouldn't have these comrades-in-arms." ”
My family cared for me, my comrades-in-arms were close to me, and now the staff here take care of me, so I am very satisfied. ”
Today, most of the revolutionary martyrs we respect have passed away, but their great achievements will be forever remembered by the people. This includes not only Ding Sheng, but also those unknown devotees, it is the joint efforts of everyone that we have won the victory of the revolution and have today's glory.
Therefore, I hope that when we recall the past, we will have respect and inheritance in our hearts, and doing so is equivalent to our memory of the revolutionary martyrs.