In ancient times, there were many wars, how much military rations did it take to fight a war?

If a war were to be waged, the ruler would have to predict how long the war would last, and then calculate the amount of food and grass needed based on the size of the army. In the event that the war is prolonged, the grain and grass allocated by the government will have to be replenished continuously. Whether it is a soldier's own dry food or a court issue, once a long-term battle is encountered, the daily grain and grass will definitely not be sustainable**.

The amount of military rations needed for the war is very large.

According to the 33rd year of Qianlong, a letter was written.

It is estimated that only 40,000 soldiers need 420,000 stone of food in 10 months. Converted to the current unit of measurement.

There were 25,000 tons, and the province's warehouse grain at that time was only 350,000 stone. This only counts the rations needed by the soldiers, and the rations of the horses and the migrant workers who transport the grain are not counted.

Under normal circumstances, the country is strong and the country is able to deploy resources to support long-term operations. But war is often undecided, sometimes on the border thousands of miles away, so transportation has become a big problem. The territory is too large for food to be transported to the battlefield in time.

Even if it is transported over, the cost is too great, which increases the pressure on the grain and grass in the early stage.

If you encounter rugged mountainous terrain, you will have to consume hundreds of times more food on the road. In addition to attrition on the road, an army contains a large number of non-combatants as well as combat auxiliaries, who are often more numerous than soldiers.

For example, Shen Kuo of the Song Dynasty.

It is recorded that the ratio of soldiers to migrant workers is usually 1:3. These people consumed several times as much food as the soldiers, and in order to save grain and grass, the civilian workers who transported the food returned in batches when conditions permitted.

But there will still be a fairly large contingent of migrant workers on the front line, and a huge amount of food will be consumed every day, which will also become a very large number over time.

According to records, 40,000 people in the Qing Dynasty consumed 25,000 tons of grain in a single battle. Rations were very important for the soldiers, and the horses had to eat grass.

Qianlong conquered Burma in April of the 33rd year, Shu Hede and Ening jointly played, one of which was difficult to run grain, according to 40,000 soldiers, 100,000 horses, 420,000 stone of military food was needed in 10 months alone, and the province's warehouse grain was only 350,000 stone, which was seriously insufficient.

In the Qing Dynasty, according to 40,000 soldiers and 100,000 horses, 420,000 stone of military rations were needed in ten months alone, and 420,000 stone of military rations were needed in ten months, which was converted into more than 25,000 tons of grain.

If 100,000 people fight for a month, they will need 1.75 million kilograms of grain. A person needs about three and a half catties of food for three days, and if he fights for a month, he needs to multiply it by ten, and multiply it by ten for three days, and one person will eat about 35 catties for 30 days, and 100,000 people will eat about 3.5 million catties, which is about 1.75 million kilograms of grain.

It takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to consume military rations, the soldiers and horses have not moved, the grain and grass go first, the transportation is inconvenient in ancient times, and it is extremely inconvenient to transport grain by land, and it may take two months to travel from Beijing to Shanghai. In addition, those who transport and hold grain have to eat, and the farther the road, the more grain is consumed.

It depends on factors such as the number of soldiers fighting the war, the length of the journey, the length of the war, and the number of countries. According to ancient records, 6 to 7 liters of grain per day should be the lower limit of the normal amount of food for adult men during the Three Kingdoms, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Because there were many wars in ancient times, the expedition was long, the number of people who fought was large, and the number of war horses needed was also very large, so it should be tens of millions of tons.

It depends on how many soldiers are brought with you in the war, whether the distance is long, how much time it takes to fight, and so on. An ordinary battle may require millions of pounds of grain.

This depends on the time required to fight a war, generally a war, it may take several months, if there are many troops, the consumption of food can not be estimated, at least millions of kilograms.

Hundreds of thousands are for sure, because ancient times are not like modern times after all, by high-standard **, so it takes a lot of manpower and material resources, in addition to soldiers, there are horses, etc.

One stone of grain is a hundred liters. In ancient times, a liter was relatively small, so some people said that one stone only had 100 catties of grain, and some said that one stone was 100 kilograms of grain.

According to the calculation of one stone of grain and one penance of 100 kilograms, a soldier in wartime can not eat one pound of spine oak grain every day, so fifty stone of grain can meet the needs of 10,000 troops a day. Thirty days in a month is 1,500 stone grain.

The army has a particularly large number of logistical personnel, and a combat unit of 100,000 people generally has more than 300,000 logistical personnel, and they also consume a lot of food. In ancient times, transportation to the western and northern frontiers relied entirely on manpower, that is, people.

Generally speaking, the loss of grain transported by the people will be greater than one to one, that is to say, the people take 1,000 catties on the road, and finally arrive at the destination, leaving 500 catties. There are also three days of dry food that each soldier has to bring, the Han army has dried bread, the Mongolians and Huns have brought air-dried jerky, etc., and then there is the local food collection when they go to the **.

At that time, it was mainly transported by oxen and horse-drawn carts, and the peasants were forced to be escorted by the army to the grain depot in the battlefield garrison, and the grain depot was guarded by heavy soldiers. As long as there is a war, the people will suffer the most.

The army did not move, and the grain and grass went first. Listen to Shan Tianfang's commentary.

1 stone = 10 buckets = 120 catties.

In April of the 33rd year of Qianlong (1768 AD), Shu Hede and Ening, who had arrived in Yunnan in advance, jointly played a concert, saying that there were five difficulties in conquering Burma. First, it is difficult to run horses, according to the scale of 10,000 soldiers and 30,000 Han soldiers, 100,000 horses are needed to fight horses and drive horses, which is urgent and difficult to do. Second, it is difficult to run grain, according to 40,000 soldiers and 100,000 horses, 420,000 stone of military food is needed in just ten months, and the province's warehouse grain is only 350,000 stone, which is seriously insufficient.

Third, it is difficult to march, it is difficult to walk from Yongchang in the interior to the border, and the terrain outside the border is even worse. Fourth, it is difficult to transport grain, just from Yongchang to the border, according to the calculation of three husbands to transport rice and one stone, it will take more than one million person-times, and if you go abroad, the Chinese people are not willing to leave the country, the people abroad are sparsely populated, and it is almost impossible to hire servants. Fifth, the climate is difficult, the water and soil are unsuitable, and there are more people who have died or lost their combat effectiveness due to illness in previous wars than on the battlefield.

The two finally came to the conclusion that they had little chance of winning the war against Burma, and it was better to try to recruit Burma.

300,000 stone grain and grass are enough for 100,000 troops in January Han Dynasty 1 stone = 2 city buckets, 1 city bucket = jin, 1 stone = 27 city catties, 300,000 quintals of grain = 4,000 tons, 4 tons per capita.

Most of the people who transported the grain were levied from the common people, and their usual food and government did not have to worry about it, and even collected taxes. Once it is requisitioned, it is necessary to give people food and salaries, and the government has to pay for it. The soldiers of Tuntian usually farmed their own land and were self-sufficient, and once the war started, this part of the field could not be barren, and they had to hire some ordinary farmers around to help take care of it, which also cost money.

Soldiers**, pensions for soldiers' families, conscription, are very expensive and food-consuming.

In ancient times, military spending was far less expensive than it is now. I didn't see that the United States had no money to fight the Gulf War, so it needed assistance from other countries.

According to the records of Juyan Hanjian, the soldier's monthly ration was about 3 stone and 3 buckets, and the ancient north was still based on millet before the Song Dynasty.

Hui is the main one, plus some wild vegetables boiled in the soup, the conditions are very difficult, except for senior generals, there is little meat, unless the horse is killed, which also leads to the need for soldiers to maintain a day's consumption through a large amount of food (can not be compared with modern times, after all, modern food is oily enough, and the calories required by the human body are easy to meet, so eat less). According to the Han Dynasty one stone (here is the capacity unit, not the weight unit) about 27 city catties, 3 stones and 3 buckets (1 stone 10 buckets) is about 89 catties, 30 days in January, equivalent to 3 catties of millet per day, if only compared with the weight, it is equivalent to about 12 steamed bread a day (the weight of steamed bread is about 120 grams), because the Han Dynasty still eats two meals, so each meal is equivalent to the amount of 6 steamed buns, of course, the calories in this should be far lower than later generations! Compared to modern times, 12 steamed buns a day is not a strange thing for manual laborers!

Therefore, Juyan Hanjian's description should be in line with that era and is not exaggerated, so the daily ration of ancient soldiers is basically about 3 catties, don't use modern eyes to measure! They don't have meat and eggs! For those who estimate that the soldier's ration is less than 3 catties, it is equivalent to the emperor sending hungry soldiers, it is okay not to fight, once the war is easy to mutiny!