Published: March 12, 2025
Chapter 246: I Want the Battle Flag
Wells was dazed as he listened to Zhao Hai's words. One hundred million jin of food, while not enough for the entire tauren tribe, would indeed last a long time for the Herculean Bull Tribe.
At that moment, Yale also paused for a moment, but he quickly reacted. He called over two warriors from the Herculean Bull Tribe to go to Zhao Hai's cart to fetch the food. He wanted to see whether the food Zhao Hai brought was good or bad.
The orc tribe values food highly. Because they place such importance on it, their standards for food quality are even stricter. Many orcs, although illiterate, can discern good rice from bad rice just by feeling its weight with their hands; it’s that magical.
Wells was brought back to his senses by Yale's actions. He glanced at Zhao Hai and said, “Brother Zhao Hai, do you really have one hundred million jin of food?”
Zhao Hai shook his head and replied, “Not just that. To be precise, I can obtain one hundred million jin of food every once in a while. My territory is vast, so I plant all the bamboo rice in batches, allowing for harvests periodically, haha.”
Wells was stunned again, and then his expression changed. “Brother Zhao Hai, I consider you a brother, but please don't lie to me. Although I can't farm, I know it requires a large expanse of land to harvest one hundred million jin of food. Can your land really yield that much in a short time? Just how big is your territory?”
Zhao Hai looked at Wells, suddenly feeling a pang of sadness. He knew that food was incredibly precious here among the orcs, but it seemed those merchants had not told Wells the truth.
Bamboo rice has a high yield. Even outside of the space, its yield would not differ much, and as long as there is no human destruction, the production of bamboo rice will not be significantly affected. The bamboo rice produced on the continent is enough to sustain all the races along the roads, including the orc tribe, Elven Race, dwarf clan, and even magical beasts.
If the human race were genuinely willing to trade with the orc tribe, the latter would have no reason to worry about food crises, and food prices would not be so absurdly high.
However, the orc tribe does not farm, so those human merchants must have exaggerated the difficulties of farming to the orcs, making them believe that growing food is a challenging task with low yields. This way, they can avoid lowering food prices. It can be said that they are draining the orc tribe's resources.
Zhao Hai put down the sheep horn knife in his hand and turned to Wells, saying, “My brother Wells, I've told you before, I'm not a traditional merchant. All my food is produced by myself, and I know the yields very well. Don't be deceived by those cunning merchants. Take bamboo rice for example; with just ten thousand acres, it can yield one hundred million jin, and it matures every three months. If the weather is good and it can be planted in winter, then ten thousand acres can produce three harvests a year. As long as there are no natural disasters or human destruction, my brother, it is not a problem for me to provide one hundred million jin of food in a short time.”
Wells and Yale stared blankly at Zhao Hai. To be honest, they genuinely did not know what Zhao Hai was saying. The orcs do not farm, just as humans do not herd; for humans, herding is too difficult. Why do those magical beasts always get sick? Conversely, for orcs, farming is too hard. Why do those crops always die? This is an unsolvable issue.
Because of this, those human merchants made food seem like a rare treasure. The orc tribe believed them because, in their eyes, farming is indeed a challenging task.
But today, Zhao Hai told them that in the human race, food production is very high. Wells and Yale momentarily struggled to accept this statement.
The two continued to stare at Zhao Hai. They genuinely hoped that what Zhao Hai was saying was false because the figures he mentioned were far too different from what those human merchants claimed.