Soil and grain was a common political term in East Asia for the state

State (polity)

A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...

. Altars of soil and grain were constructed alongside ancestral altars. Local kings performed ceremonies of soil and grain to affirm their sovereignty at Beijing Shejitan

Beijing Shejitan

The Beijing Shejitan , also known as the Altar of Earth and Harvests or Altar of Land and Grain is a Confucian altar, located in the Zhongshan Park in Beijing. Built in 1421, it was used to perform the national soil and grain ceremonies. The Shejitan is also located in the opposite geometric...

 and Seoul Sajiktan. It has also been rendered "gods of soil and grain" in English, owing to its associations of prayer and supernatural possibilities.

During the Warring States Period

Warring States Period

The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...

, ministers defied the emperor by claiming a greater loyalty to the "soil and grain".