Chapter 1107: Cultivating Raw Materials Base

These seeds are too expensive, the requirements are too high; this way we have to hire more workers, training costs are also high, and the medicinal herbs need to be graded, making the price gap too huge!

The small farm owners who boarded Lao Jieke's pirate ship, after falling into the pit, began to complain incessantly.

Lao Jieke did not indulge them.

The beaver rat monopoly scam in Daxia over ten years ago had long proven this scheme's effectiveness.

As long as there is benefit, they will accept it even if they are unwilling.

Besides, they are not swindlers; they really will buy back the medicinal herbs.

However, the price of the medicinal herbs cannot stay this high forever.

"Are the seeds free? Our seed company here sells seeds cheaply? Not to mention these medicinal herb seeds."

"The high requirements mean no pesticides, no random fertilizers, but using methods to create a natural environment for planting; if you don't want to hire workers and don't mind low yields, you can actually let it grow wild, and such medicinal herbs are still expensive."

"Training costs high? You go there to study, the fees aren't high; shouldn't they teach you medicinal herb planting and processing techniques for free?"

"People should be content, not just think about benefit without wanting to contribute."

"Medicinal herbs can be planted for a lifetime."

"Now the momentum of Chinese medicine is so high, the varieties of patent Chinese medicines are also increasing."

"The demand for medicinal herbs is also growing."

"For at least the next ten years, you don't need to worry about profit issues."

"What else do you want?"

"After you get on the Chinese Medicine Association's track, you even have the chance to send your children to Daxia to study Chinese medicine."

"Just look at how popular Chinese medicine is now; it's a very promising profession, at least securing a middle‑class position."

"A middle‑class slot, what else do you want?"

After being scolded by Lao Jieke, the small farm owners' mood actually improved a lot.

They were also panicking about the unknown; they had never encountered such a thing before and basically didn't know how it would end.

If it weren't for the Chinese Medicine Association providing their seeds with a large amount of local herbs, which they were somewhat familiar with, they would really have struggled to decide to invest in these unknown seeds.

What reassured them was Lao Jieke, the purchase contract, and the familiar local herbs.

As more and more contracts were signed, Lao Jieke's mouth corners kept turning up.

He wasn't working for nothing; he also gained something. Through this cooperation, Lao Jieke can obtain a health‑product collaboration with the Chinese Medicine Association.

Medicines are hard to sell worldwide because each country has entry barriers; to seize their market, one must pay huge benefits.

The Chinese Medicine Association can only blaze a new trail, selling via health products and the like.

With the Daxia craze and the rise of Chinese medicine fever, the prospects for Chinese medicine health products are very broad.

This is a source of wealth.

Not just medicinal herbs.

Over these years, Qiongzhou has also been promoting Chinese cuisine.

So the market for Chinese seasonings has also begun to boom.

These seasonings require processing of various raw materials.

Relying on Daxia alone, it's hard to meet demand.

At the very least, Qiongzhou's production cannot satisfy it.

So these raw materials also need raw‑material production bases.

Qiongzhou imports raw materials, processes them, and then sells them worldwide.

Qiongzhou is cultivating an industrial chain.

After all, its own territory is too small to allow much fuss.

When a group of small farm owners came to Qiongzhou for training.

They were shocked for the first time by Qiongzhou's development.

"This is Qiongzhou?"

"Isn't it the city of the future?"

In the air there are cloud tracks, elevated rails; on the ground are various unmanned buses, taxis; underground there is a developed subway network.

After getting off the plane, one basically doesn't need to walk any distance to reach most places in Qiongzhou.

At night, the bustling urban life surprised them even more.

"This is too lively, how can there be so many people. It's also too convenient, with so many shops still open."

"This is also too safe, with no incidents occurring."

Lao Jieke saw them making a fuss over nothing, but he didn't mock them.

Back then he wasn't much better off either.

"Hey, guys, want to try an unmanned restaurant, or an unmanned bar?"

"The unmanned development here is progressing quickly."

"Although in many industries there are regulations preventing large‑scale popularization of robots,"

"but you can still feel the changes technology brings to this society."

"For example, many places have emergency‑response robots."

"For example, many places have firefighting robots."

"Qiongzhou is combining the strengths of people and machines to operate Qiongzhou."

"To make Qiongzhou more convenient and substantive."

Lao Jieke said this while taking out his phone.

"For example, right now I feel carrying luggage is inconvenient, so I can call a porter to serve me."

Moving workers can be human or robotic.

Here I choose robots, because human workers often have no one taking orders; most people in Qiongzhou don't want to do servant work.

Not long after he finished speaking, a purchasing vehicle came running over.

After scanning Lao Jieke's face, it quietly followed behind him.

Lao Jieke handed his coat to the robot, which tidied it up and then placed it in its own storage box.

You can have it follow you, or choose to send it back, and call it again when you need it.

For example, if we are going to a restaurant later, it will automatically go to the nearest stop to the restaurant and wait; when we are ready to leave, it will come over.

If we get drunk and forget it, it will deliver items to you via its own cargo system, as long as you have set a home address.

I choose to have it follow me to the restaurant, and the restaurant also has their universal charging port.

It will continue to follow us when we are about to leave.

After we finish eating, if we want to go home, we can take the bus, a taxi, or call our own car.

In Qiongzhou, autonomous driving is fully open, thanks to Qiongzhou's complete IoT system, where every piece of hardware has its own identity, ensuring the safety of autonomous driving.

Safety distance is mandatory, and speed within the city is strictly limited.

Intelligent traffic ensures efficiency in city travel, so even if we call our own car, it can arrive quickly.

However, that's unnecessary, because we can fully ride in driverless taxis.

Calling a vehicle is superfluous.

However, when I've had too much to drink, I prefer to call a human-driven taxi, because the driver will safely take me to my doorstep, until I am handed over to my family or to the security guard at the long-term rental's entrance.