Zhang Nu had bought several batches of medicinal herb seeds and had especially set up an herbal garden area within the goblin farms. The first batch of herbs were basically planted at around the same time as the first two batches of potatoes.
He's already had several harvests of potatoes, but this is the first time the herbs have matured enough for harvest.
This is because the herbs have a longer growth time.
Zhang Nu personally arrived at the goblin farms.
Here, besides the 300+ goblins, there are also over 100 units of draconian laborers and minotaurs who act as a labor force taking care of physical work like hauling or plowing.
In order to increase the effectiveness of the farms, Zhang Nu even set up 5 minotaur priests to take turns on shift.
Their job is to use their aura spells to recover the farmers' stamina and boost their endurance.
Even so, the 100 acres of spirit fields still aren't being fully utilized.
40 or so acres are planted with the quick growing giga potatoes. There are additional 10-20 acres used for the slow growing medicinal herbs. However, the rest of the 30-40 acres were generally left fallow.
This is quite a waste.
Even so, it can't be helped.
This waste comes from two issues, one internal and one external.
The external issue is the supply of seeds.
The internal issue is the labor shortage.
It's his fault for only having a bit over 300 goblins after all.
Zhang Nu had no choice but to keep sending more draconian laborers and minotaurs to try to make up for the shortage.
The various normal farms would generally have a harvest every five to six days.
The cycle of planting to harvest is extremely short.
It's an enormous amount of work requiring huge amounts of labor.
Right now, Zhang Nu's most important seed supplier, the Flower Fey Chen Guoguo, has recently been quickly increasing her seed production capabilities. Thus, it's about time to start fully utilizing all the farmland that he has.
Even without the goblin villagers, the minotaurs are still capable of filling in somewhat.
Even if that ends up slowing down the production speed somewhat, it will still end up producing wealth every day, so it's at least better than leaving huge amounts of valuable spirit fields to lay fallow.
"Welcome master!"
"Long live the master!"
The goblins all prostrated themselves.
Zhang Nu simply waved them off, "Go back to work."
The goblins all hurriedly got back up, "Yes, sir!"
Currently, the goblins' loyalty values are stable at around 80-90%.
If he could bring in more goblins for the farms and lower their average amount of work per goblin, then it could end up increasing their loyalty value even more.
Zhang Nu looked for the old chief and asked him, "Are there more goblins nearby?"
The old goblin replied, "There are a lot of goblins living in the forest. However, small villages tend to be destroyed very often, so there are no real long term settlements... That being said, I have heard of a large goblin tribe to the South."
This is a very important line of inquiry, so Zhang Nu silently memorized it.
He plans on grabbing some more goblins to farm for him.
The 10+ acres of herb gardens are letting out a faint fragrance. Since the herbs within have different growth periods, the majority of the herbs are still growing. Right now, the current harvest is only for less than two acres of the fields.
There are two main herbs planted here.
[Life herb]. Green quality. Can be directly consumed. Slowly recovers 20 HP!
[Moonlight ginseng]. Green quality. Can be directly consumed. Slowly recovers 30 MP!
He got 2000 units of life grass and 1000 units of moonlight ginseng from this harvest.
They're both fairly common wild herbs around the Darkness Valley.
That said, they're generally only gray or white quality items.
All the herbs that he harvested from his farms have reached green quality though. This is far better than those common wild herbs around, which shows just how much better farming is!
Plus, these herbs can be directly consumed.
Directly consuming the herbs without any treatment results in some time before the effect takes place and it takes additional time for the full effect to show. Thus, they're not very suitable for use during battles.
Chang Nu asked, "How many herbs are currently still growing?"
The old goblin answered, "There are around 20,000 life herbs and 10,000 moonlight ginsengs."
That really is some good stuff there!
Although the growth time is a bit long, the value and profit margins really won't lose out compared to the food crops.
Zhang Nu sent a message in the chat menu, "Selling life herb and moonlight ginseng. Please PM me if you need any."
The moment that message was posted, the chat menu immediately lit up with activity.
"Isn't that the Potato Demon King?"
"Why's the Potato Demon King starting to sell herbs now?"
"Whoo! This big shot's going to be running the farming train to the end!"
"..."
Chang Nu's first batch of medicinal herbs for the market are as follows.
500 life herbs at 30 gold per herb.
100 moonlight ginseng at 40 gold per herb.
The trade menu isn't some market that one could randomly set prices as one might like.
Setting the price too low means that the seller will end up losing profit.
Setting the price too high on the other hand will make the items unsellable for a long while. This is in addition to the cost of the transaction fees.
Thus, Zhang Nu had observed the market price trends for a while before he finally settled on a middling price. Not too cheap, nor too expensive.
[Trade success. Gained 30 gold!]
[Trade success. Gained 30 gold!]
[Trade success. Gained 40 gold!]
[...]
Successful trade messages popped up one after another.
This showed that there weren't any major issues with the price that he had set.
Zhang Nu was quite satisfied.
There was a reason why he decided to plant medicinal herbs rather than devote all his labor force to plant food crops after all.
That reason was to diversify his income sources.
This way, even if there are major shifts in the food market in the future, he'll still be able to maintain his territory's economic viability via the income from herbs.
At that moment, a private message popped up.
Mysterious Witch Liang Bai: "Boss, I can buy high quantities of herbs. Can you give me a small discount?"
Zhang Nu: "How much do you plan on purchasing?"
Mysterious Witch Liang Bai: "200 units of both herbs!"
That's not exactly a small amount of money here.
Just why is this person spending so much money to buy medicinal herbs?
Zhang Nu: "To buy so much at once. You know potion making?"
Mysterious Witch Liang Bai: "Yes. I have a Talent for potion making. My production units can also make potions. Thus, I need a very large supply of herbs as ingredients to support my business!"
Interesting.
Zhang Nu does quite welcome that kind of collaborative venture.
He does need some stable business partners after all.
Zhang Nu: "I'll give you a 15% off discount, so the total price will be 11900 gold. However, I want the right of first refusal to purchase your potions after they've been produced."