Recorded in Song-dynasty writer Yang Wanli's
《钤辖赵公墓志铭》 ('Tomb Inscription for Commander Zhao'), describing a Southern Song general who held out for years against the Jin invaders until
粮尽援绝 ('grain exhausted, reinforcements cut off') and led several thousand men southward. The modern fixed form
弹尽粮绝 swaps
援 ('reinforcements') for
弹 ('ammunition') - a 20th-century update for firearm warfare.
