From the Qin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, Xiaomi has occupied the title of "Ace Military Food" for more than 1000 years. As an important military food for soldiers, it is not only related to the combat effectiveness of a country's army, but also an important guarantee for national security and stability. The will of rations has been valued by all previous dynasties. The choice of millet in each dynasty is related to its profound historical background. According to the political and economic center of China at that time, it was concentrated in the Yellow River Basin. More than 6000 years ago, millet was widely planted in northern China. Ancient people used local materials, saving a lot of transportation costs.
Millet is drought-tolerant and poverty-tolerant, and its yield is stable. This was the only surplus cereal crop at that time. During the Qin Dynasty, rice cultivation was not popular, and 1 kg of rice could be exchanged for 2.5 kg of millet. During the Warring States Period, Li Kui, the state of Wei, paid taxes at one tenth of the yield per mu. A family of five people cultivated 100 mu of land, with an annual output of about 95 stones of millet, except for the remaining 45 stones eaten at home. Converted into the current unit of measurement, the output value of * * * is about 80 Jin, which can already reach 60% when the People's Republic of China was founded. It can be said that the grain structure of millet in that dynasty was absolute.
People in the army and horses can eat corn. In the Han dynasty, in order to ensure the horses' abundant physical strength, soldiers added corn to the horses as feed. Some books say that a horse should eat at least six adults' food, and there were 400 thousand horses in the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, which shows how huge the food consumption in Han Dynasty was.