>>63887760
They were. Iirc the japs in ww2 invaded burma and nam and shit in large part to get more rice flowing for the troops. Logistics is important, food is heavy and (used to be) scarce for large parts of the world.
Hell, many armies back in the day "lived off the land" because of this - which in reality meant aquiring food from locals, be it your territory or not. Also why scorched earth was a real tactic, if you can't haul supplies away during a retreat it's better to burn everything to starve the enemy.