8 May 2017

Military rations of the Ming Dynasty

UPDATED MARCH 7, 2024


As Napoleon Bonaparte once said "an army marches on its stomach.", the importance of military logistics simply cannot be overstated. In a sense, military logistics can be seen as the single most important factor that decides whether a war is won or lost, even more so than military stratagem or technology.

Due the fact that Chinese fought most of their wars on their own soil or on barren steppes and deserts, foraging was either impractical (nothing to forage) or strongly discouraged/outright banned. Thanks to China's centralised governance and military organisation, it had a remarkably sophisticated logistical system for its time that could provision its armies effectively and remove the dependency on foraging (although foraging/pillaging still happened from time to time). Unfortunately, even the most robust logistical system had its failings. As such, emergency rations were issued to supplement regular military rations, and generals were taught survival skills in case of severe food shortage.

Military ration, known as Qiu Bei (糗糒, lit. 'Dry food') and Ji Liang (齎糧, lit. 'Supplied food') in Classical Chinese, generally remained consistent throughout many dynasties as dietary culture changes slowly. In fact, Ming Chinese inherited most of their standardised military rations from their Song ancestors.

1) Garrison rations

1.1) Fresh Food

Rice and millet

Rice and millet are the most important staple foods for Chinese people for millenia. Unsurprisingly, they were also the staple foods for the military. Ancient Chinese military logistics reports rarely record anything other than grains and horse forages. Generally, one sheng of rice or millet would be enough to sustain one troop for a single day.

Rice and millet make the perfect military rations in pre-modern times. They have extremely long shelf life, can be transported conveniently, are easy to cook (just add water and boil, basically), provide instant energy, and generally taste good and easily swallowable (compared to other travel rations like hard tack).

Wheat and barley were also grown and eaten, although they were not mainstay military food.

Meat

While beef, mutton, pork, poultry and fish were all eaten in the military, fresh meat was considered a luxury due to the difficulty in preserving it. Nevertheless, most Ming troops still had semi-regular access to this valuable food in the form of pre-expedition and pre-battle feasts, celebrations, salary as well as rewards.

For longer campaign, live sheep and cows (but not pigs, as pigs are not herdable) were brought along with the army to ensure a steady supply of fresh meat.

Vegetable

Fresh vegetable and fruit were even more of a luxury than fresh meat and thus not normally included in the logistics.

1.2) Preserved Food

Sun (飧)

Also known as Sun Fan (飧飯), this food was prepared by repeatedly steaming and basking (dehydrating) cooked rice for ten times. Cooked rice prepared this way last longer and can be recooked in a much shorter time by simply pouring hot water over it. Generally, a soldier would be given two dou of Sun Fan, which can sustain him for fifty days.

Although prepared using a much more primitive method, Sun Fan is, for all intent and purpose, exactly the same thing as instant rice.

Salt

Salt in the form of mineral lump was given to every soldier. Generally a lump of salt can sustain a soldier for fifty days.

Vinegar

Due to the difficulty of transporting large quantities of liquid in the military, liquid food additives such as vinegar were transported by other ingenuitive means. The usual method of preparing vinegar was to steep a one chi long cloth in one sheng of vinegar, then dry it. This process was repeated until all vinegar was used up. When vinegar was needed for cooking, a small piece of cloth would be cut out and cooked together with other food. Generally one strip of cloth provided enough vinegar for a troop for fifty days.

Alternatively, a wheat bread can be used in place of the cloth.

Fermented black bean bread

This food was prepared by grinding three sheng of fermented black beans to mash and mix it with five sheng of salt. Then, the dough was made into bread and dried. Due to its saltiness this bread can't be consumed directly, instead bread crumbs were added to other foods as flavouring. One such bread was enough for a single soldier for fifty days.

Lap Yuk/La Rou (臘肉) and Lap Yu/La Yu (臘魚)

Meat and fish were preserved with a special preserving method known as La Zhi (臘製), which involves brining, marinating, and sometimes smoking. As the preserving process was usually carried out in the last month of the year, known as La Yue (臘月) in Chinese calendar, the food also came to be known as La Rou (臘肉, lit. 'cured meat') and La Yu (臘魚, cured fish).

A properly processed La Rou can last for several months in the open and still be eaten even if the meat has started to mold (although the moldy parts have to be removed first).

Dried, salted or smoked meat and fish

Despite the advantage (namely being more tasty) of La Rou, its preserving process was rather complicated and time-consuming. Troops with less time in hand often opt for simpler methods such as drying, salting and smoking.

Dried or pickled vegetable

Like meat, vegetable was also processed to last longer, usually by pickling. Chinese cabbage and cucumber were arguably the most common processed vegetables during Ming period.

Tea

Dried tea leaves compressed into a cake, known as Bing Cha (餅茶, lit. 'Tea bread').
As Chinese people were (and still are) avid tea drinkers, tea was the most important drink after water in the military. Dried tea leaves were compressed and moulded into tea bricks for ease of transportation.

Tea was also an important commodity in tea-horse trade, which was an important source of warhorse for the Ming military.

Alcoholic beverages

A Ming period liquor bottle. Private collection.
Like meat, alcoholic beverages were considered a luxury rather than a necessity. In fact, drinking in the army was often explicitly banned, although alcoholic beverages would still be given out during feasts or celebrations as morale booster.

The most commonly consumed alcoholic drink in the military was probably a type of low quality, village-brewed Huang Jiu (黄酒) known as Mao Chai (茅柴).

2) Field rations

Chu Fan (芻飯)

Chu Fan was prepared by simply drying Sun Fan (see above) further so that it can last even longer.

Mi Bing (麋餅, proso millet bread)

Mi Bing was prepared by coking proso millet flour or paste in boiling water, then shaping the cooked flour into a bread. The bread was then cut into bite-sized Qi Zi (see below) pieces and dried. Mi Bing was usually recooked with hot water or soup (which turns the bread into some kind of gruel or congee) before eaten, but can be consumed directly if there was not enough time to prepare the food.

Although unrecorded in military treatises, other types of Chinese breads were almost certainly used as military rations in pre-modern China as well.

(Note: My apologies. I misinterpret the Chinese character "Mi [麋]" to mean Mi Lu [麋鹿, Père David's deer], and erroneously described Mi Bing as a type of venison meatloaf. In proper context the character Mi should refer to proso millet, known as Huang Mi [黃米, lit. 'Yellow rice'] in modern Chinese but used to be called Mi Zi [糜子]. I have since corrected the description.)

Chao Dai (麨袋, stir-fried flour pack)

Chao Dai is a pre-packaged bag of stir-fried millet, wheat or barley flour, or a mixture of all three. It was usually cooked into a mushy congee and mixed with salt (and other food additives or garnishment if available) before eaten, although it can also be eaten raw if needed be.

A Chinese soldier during Korean War, munching on snow while holding a bowl of Chao Mian in his right hand.
Also known as Chao Mian (炒麵), this stir-fried flour food has been a staple military ration in Chinese military for a very long time, and was consumed even as late as Korean War. During the war Chinese soldiers were forced to eat unheated Chao Mian mixed with snow, as cooking smoke would attract U.S. air strikes. This gave rise to the saying "Yi Ba Chao Mian Yi Ba Xue (一把炒麵一把雪, lit. 'A handful of fried flour, chugged down with the helping of a handful of snow')".

Qi Zi (棋子, lit. 'Chess piece')

Unlike their historical counterpart, modern version of Qi Zi pieces are often cut into rhombus shape.
Qi Zi is an umbrella term referring to any kind of bread or flour-based food specifically cut into small pieces no bigger than the stones of Weiqi for ease of consumption and transportation. Outside of military, Qi Zi was also eaten by common folk as snacks and trail rations.

3) Emergency Rations

3.1) Military-issued Emergency Rations

Qi Ji Guang's emergency ration pack

Ming commander Qi Ji Guang (戚继光) created an emergency ration pack consisted of one sheng of fried rice, one sheng of fried rice flour, one sheng of wheat dough mixed with sesame oil, six he of steamed wheat flour repeatedly steeped and basked in Shao Jiu (燒酒, lit. 'Burned liquor') or distilled rice wine (not to be confused with modern Baijiu/Shaojiu which is distilled from fermented sorghum), as well as four he of steamed wheat flour repeatedly steeped and basked in salt and vinegar. All these foods were packaged separately.

Qi Ji Guang forbade his soldiers to consume the ration pack unless they were in the direst of circumstances. Moreover, losing the ration pack was seen as an offence comparable to losing a weapon, which is punishable by paddling.

Thirst suppressor

Half a sheng of sesame seeds were issued to every troops as emergency thirst suppressor. In the event of severe water shortage, thirty sesame seeds were consumed to temporary suppress the thirst. Alternatively, plum and dried cheese (taken in moderation, as eating too much cheese worsen the thirst) can be used in place of sesame seed.

Dried cheese was also fed to horses as thirst suppressor.

3.2) Last Resort Survival Food

Eating warhorses and beasts of burden

In time of desperation, horses and other beasts of burden were slaughtered for food. Troops were instructed to kill weaker animals first in order to remain combat-capable for as long as possible. In general, it was estimated that one cow or horse can produce enough meat to sustain fifty troops for a single day, while a donkey can only sustain thirty.

Eating leather

In the case of extreme food shortage, troops were instructed to cook and eat leather/hide equipment to stay alive. Leather armours, boots, belts, reins and saddles can all be eaten this way.

Eating pine bark

If the army faced extreme food shortage in mountainous area, troops were instructed to collect pine bark for food. Ten catties of pine bark were cooked together with one he of rice until it became completely tender. Generally, it was estimated that half a sheng of pine bark can sustain a troop for a single day.

EXTRA: Chinese cuisines purported to be used as / originated from military ration

Chinese steamed bun/Man Tou (饅頭)

Man Tou is a steamed white flour bun said to be invented by Three Kingdoms period strategist, Zhu Ge Liang (诸葛亮) as a substitute of human heads used in a sacrifice ritual, although its actual history is almost certainly older than the famed strategist.

Pot helmet/Guo Kui (鍋盔)

Guo Kui is a type of oven-baked, wheat flour-based flatbread with many associated folk legends, ranging from military ration used by the soldiers of King Wen of Zhou, to hard bread capable of stopping arrow that saved the life of Zhang Fei (張飛), to helmet-cooked bread invented by labourers hired to build the Qianling Mausoleum.

Kompyang/Guang Bing (光餅)

Komgpyang is a type of oven-baked wheat flour-based bread with sesame seed topping purported to be invented by Qi Ji Guang and named after him. Thanks to a hole in the centre of this bread, multiple Kompyang can be strung together and carried around the neck for convenience.

Ma Bing (麻餅, lit. 'Sesame bread')

Ma Bing is a type of wheat flour-based flatbread cooked with sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seed topping. 

Originated from Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, the sesame bread is said to be used as military ration by the soldiers of Zhu Yuan Zhang (朱元璋) during his successful campaign to overthrow Yuan Dynasty, hence it is also known as De Sheng Bing (得勝餅, lit. 'Victory bread') and Cai Guo Gong Bing (蔡國公餅, lit. 'National Duke Cai's bread').

San He Mian (三合麵)

A local delicacy of Quanzhou, San He Mian is prepared by mixing fried wheat flour with fried dry onion, fried sesame seeds, and some sugar. It can be eaten by pouring hot water over the mixture and stir it until the mixture turn into a thick congee. San He Mian originated from the military rations of Qi Jia Jun (戚家軍), and is essentially a more palatable version of Chao Mian (see above).

Oyster fritter/Ke Die (蚵嗲)

One of the most famous Taiwanese delicacies, Ke Die is said to be invented by Koxinga when his army faced food shortage during the campaign to retake Formosa from the Dutch.




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13 comments:

  1. Bravo, very well-written, I learned a lot. I rarely see ancient Chinese military cuisine being mentioned on other sites.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I find it extremely hard to research for this topic due to the scarcity of organised material, so there's a lot more info to be added later.

      Delete
  2. Under the "thirst suppressor" section you mention cheese being eaten. Are you referring to dairy-based cheeses like those in the West or are you talking about a different kind of Chinese-style cheese I'm not aware of? I was under the impression that dairy-based cheeses weren't really a thing in traditional Chinese cuisine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed 酪 in Chinese language refes to any fermented food, not just diary product. However the cheese in the context does refer to diary-based cheese.

      Despite the prevalence of lactose intolerance in Asian, Chinese people did eat diary product.

      Delete
    2. I see. IIRC, certain types of cheese (especially aged dry cheeses) and fermented dairy products like yogurt are actually pretty safe to eat for lactose intolerant people since most of the lactose is either broken down by the lactobacillus or strained off in the whey during the cheese-making process. I know traditionally Chinese cuisine tends to not have much cheese or dairy products in it, but I heard Mongol, Tibetan, and a few other ethnic groups' cuisines around China do. Was the context of the cheese-eating during a campaign against the Mongols or something like that?

      Delete
    3. No context given unfortunately. The ration was inherited from Song Dynasty Wujing Zongyao, so it was pre-Mongol.

      Delete
  3. Is there any side effect after eating pine bark/their own equipment?

    Like, do they get sick? (Assuming they don't have to worry about war)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am sure they won’t be the most tasty of food, but leather equipment and pine bark are both well-known desperate survival food.

      Link for example.
      http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/survivalist/2011/11/survival-foods-can-you-really-eat-tree-bark

      Delete
    2. In other word, you won’t generally catch disease or getting poisoned by eating those things.

      Delete
  4. Do you have more posts on logistics? One hypothesis I've been floating is that the massive Chinese troop counts in Chinese annals actually reflect logistics troops, i.e, pall bearers, engineering, etc end up getting lumped into Chinese soldier numbers to inflate their force count.

    When this is considered, information on the ratio of logistics troops to fighting troops is useful, as well as means of conducting logistics support. As the common quip goes, "amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not at the moment. It is, as you said, a professional topic after all.

      It's very hard to make a sweeping statement about troop count, as that can differ wildly from region to region, period to period, or even who was doing the reporting. The line between "combat troop" and "logistics troops" wasn't very clear cut either.

      Delete
    2. Another interesting thing is elites vs mass armies. Chinese armies typically included elite elements, but in general, Chinese armies were usually more centered on mass (spearmen, crossbowmen) forces.

      This has important bearings for logistics. An elite force (a knightly order, etc) tends to require less supply than a mass force, even if the elite force might require costly adjuncts such as replacement armor, etc. To an extent, it explains the difficulties of Chinese imperial expansion; putting 600,000 men to invade Koguryo requires a massive logistical train, even if you assume 300,000 of these soldiers are logistics troops as opposed to combat troops.

      And even then, if we go to Imjin, the Ming were grossly hobbled by their inability to keep logistics trains working into Korea, as Korea had been ravaged and the Koreans were unable to provide local logistical support.

      Delete
    3. Via Ralph Sawyer:

      https://erenow.net/ww/ancient-chinese-warfare/42.php

      On the other hand, for doubting Chinese troop counts, I think either in Peter Hessler or Ralph Sawyer, there was a discussion of a sprawling battle based on flanking and counter-flanking tactics that stretched tens of li. So while the logistics troops hypothesis is attractive, the Chinese just seeking massive armies for massive battlefields is still supported by the evidence.

      Delete

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