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Han soldiers used bamboo slips to track frontier grain

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Guarding the absolute edge of the civilized world makes a soldier exceptionally greedy for his daily rations. At remote Silk Road outposts, Han dynasty quartermasters maintained obsessively detailed inventories on thin bamboo slips, tracking every single grain of millet to ensure starving frontier garrisons didn't mutiny against the emperor.

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Han soldiers used bamboo slips to track frontier grain
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