Chapter 888: Preliminary Impression

Lapa is relatively just a small country, with a population of 12 million, with agriculture as its pillar industry.

This sentence seems to make people have a concept—

Among the 12 million people, there must be many farmers.

But in fact, the number of farmers is less than 10% of the total population.

Because the largest and best farms here are in the hands of the ruling group, those who work for them in farming cannot be counted as farmers in the true sense; they are just workers.

The land that can be left to ordinary people is either not very good, or it is the fields that people later reclaimed themselves.

Lapa has quite a few mountains and rainforests, and the difficulty of reclaiming wasteland is relatively large, so being able to possess a piece of land of one's own is already a minority in Lapa.

Land represents the minimum demand that they can satisfy their own survival guarantee, and they also have the energy to sell the surplus grain to the country or grain merchants to earn extra income.

So "farmer" in Lapa does not represent the bottom of society. As a propertied class, they have already surpassed most people and are decent people.

The proletariat, the poor bottom, is the core group of Lapa. They mainly live by selling labor, and most of them are short-term workers.

According to Lapa's official statistics in the past few years, Lapa's per capita income is about 500 Para per month.

It is worth mentioning that per capita income here refers to the per capita income of those who have jobs, and does not include those who do not have jobs. This is the mainstream statistical means of many countries.

After all, the elderly, children, and women have no work income in many countries. It is also unreasonable to include them in the base of per capita income.

Lapa uses the Para, a currency unique to Xiang Yalan.

Para belongs to a small currency, and there is no settlement business or space in the international currency market, so international circulation is not large.

The official exchange rate formulated by Lapa is that ten Para can be exchanged for one Federation Sol. This official exchange rate has not been changed for decades.

But in fact, one Federation Sol can be exchanged for about seventy Para in the underground exchange market.

This is also the source of life for some currency exchange dealers. They will gather in places where foreign tourists enter the country, providing various currency exchange services that are more reasonable relative to the official exchange rate.

One Federation Sol can be exchanged for about sixty to sixty-five Para from their hands. When tourists are ready to leave and want to exchange the Para in their hands for Federation Sol, they might need to pay seventy-two, three, or even seventy-five Para.

What they earn is this difference.

As for the official exchange rate, and going to the Lapa National Bank to exchange?

Sorry, their Federation Sol is never enough. You absolutely cannot exchange one Federation Sol with ten Para here, but you can exchange ten Para with one Federation Sol, and it is unlimited exchange.

How much you have, they can exchange how much.

Lans just got off the ship, and quite a few locals with bags on their shoulders approached enthusiastically, but they hadn't approached yet, and Lans's people blocked them outside the crowd.

He had already made the worst plan, but the situation here was much better than he imagined, at least there were no people urinating and defecating everywhere and the excrement left behind, and the air didn't smell that bad.

Those currency exchange dealers saw that they couldn't find business here, and soon surged toward other tourists, holding stacks of Para in their hands, shouting the exchange rate they could give.

In a short while, someone had already reached a deal.

Many people must have inquired about the situation here before coming to Lapa. The Lapa market accepts the direct use of Federation Sol, but they will give change according to the official exchange rate. This is obviously a kind of extortion.

But this kind of extortion is protected by the local police. If you feel it is unreasonable, they will call the police, and in the end, it is these tourists who are unlucky.

So the first thing many people who have done their homework do after landing is to exchange currency.

Roger stood by Lans's side, looking at these people around, feeling a bit emotional. "I always felt I was very poor before, but after standing here, I realized that there is always a worse environment than you now, and people living there."

"It's like returning to the Empire, even worse than the Empire."

The Empire is also very poor, social resources gather infinitely in the hands of nobles, but the situation will not be as terrible as here.

A large number of dirty children stood timidly outside the pier, and several guys wearing what should be police uniforms stared at them fiercely with sticks in their hands.

Further away were various small vendors, selling things unique to Lapa. The entire port, pier, didn't look like the "country's first largest port" at all.

More and more tourists got off the passenger ship. With the numerous treaties signed between the Xiang Yalan Alliance and the Federation, the market of the entire Xiang Yalan Alliance was completely open, and many people who couldn't find opportunities in the Federation also began to walk toward Xiang Yalan.

The Federation has too many things about success studies. These books are always encouraging people to boldly try to take the first step.

Some people's heads get hot and they come to an unfamiliar environment, fantasizing about becoming the next caster of the Federation dream.

But most people eventually just remain silent and disappear in this wave.

This is Lapa's largest port, and also Lapa's largest city and capital. Lans waited on the pier for more than ten minutes, and a luxurious motorcade soon arrived at the side of the pier.

The police on duty on the pier ran over immediately. After confirming with the driver for a while, they began to disperse the beggars around.

They beat them directly with sticks. Those beggars, including those dirty children, didn't dare to resist, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, after Gomez got off the car, he ran toward this side and stopped not far from Lans. He had already seen Lans and the people around Lans from afar.

He took a deep breath, put on a smile, ran to a place not far from Lans, then stretched out both hands and walked over quickly.

"Mr. Lans!" Lans stretched out a hand and was held tightly by him. He radiated hot enthusiasm. "Welcome to Lapa!"

Lans nodded slightly, and then introduced him. "This is Mr. Roger beside me. He is the current president of the Empire Chamber of Commerce."

"This time we came over, just to see if there are any projects that can be invested in."

Gomez was stunned for a moment, but soon held Roger's hand. "President Roger, I am Gomez, the president of the Lapa Chamber of Commerce. I very much welcome you to come here to invest."

He looked around. "I have already arranged a hotel. Let's get in the car first, rest in the hotel, and talk in detail tonight?"

He specially drove out all his most luxurious motorcades, but Lans didn't move.

Just when he was still a bit confused, a motorcade on the passenger ship Lans came on slowly drove out from the cargo hold exit.

He looked at those strange-looking cars and was a bit uncertain. These cars looked square, without any streamlined beauty.

Even Gomez, who lived in such a backward area as Xiang Yalan, knew "the beauty of lines."

But these cars gave him a feeling of being very powerful.

Wide tires, higher chassis, he really doubted, is this thing really comfortable to sit on?

After the motorcade arrived in front of Lans, Lans didn't invite Gomez to get in the car, but got in the car himself directly.

Roger smiled at Gomez, and then got in the car too.

Immediately after, the more than one hundred people who came with Lans also got in the car.

Looking at it this way, these cars also have quite a few advantages. At the very least, it can hold a lot.

Gomez, who was carrying some doubts, returned to his car, and then, under the escort of police cars, headed to the largest hotel in the local area.

"You don't like this Gomez?" Roger asked softly sitting beside Lans. He could feel that Lans was a bit cold to this person.

Lans didn't deny it either. "A bit of a stupid ambitious person."

Roger smiled immediately after hearing it.

In fact, being stupid alone, or being an ambitious person alone, might not make people dislike it, but the combination of these two characteristics definitely won't make people like it.

Thinking of this, Roger asked, "Then are we still going to cooperate with him?"

Lans considered for a while. "Why not?"

"Although I don't like him, the matter of cooperating with him can still be carried out."

"He hopes more than we do that we can establish a force that can contend with the Diego family. Only in this way can he continue to possess everything he possesses now."

"Status, wealth, privilege, everything."

Roger already understood in his heart and nodded.

Subsequently, the attention of both was attracted by the streetscape in the city.

As the capital of Lapa, the most prosperous place, its streets actually looked quite good.

There were also some foreign tourists on the street, some in groups of three or five, some were an adult male, followed by a young, local female. This combination was very common.

Tour guide, or companion, this business is very common and common throughout Xiang Yalan.

They provide tour guide services for these foreign tourists, and at the same time take care of their physiological problems.

Because some young women successfully left here through this method and went to developed countries, such as the Federation.

Lived the "Federation-style modern life" that everyone envied, so more women joined this industry one after another.

Just now at the pier, Lans noticed that at the pier, quite a few girls who looked only eighteen or nineteen, twenty-two, three, or four years old, wearing fashionable and bold clothes, were standing there holding "tour guide" signs.

It only takes one hundred and fifty Para a day, about two Federation Sol, to hire them.

Honestly, this is much more cost-effective than spending money directly to help those girls who need help.

They can not only provide tour guide services, but also take care of the employer's emotions, and can also release the passion of coming to a new environment at night.

Just when Lans's motorcade started to leave the pier, he saw that some female tour guides had successfully obtained an "order."

However, he wouldn't feel that these girls were shameful or pitiful. Every place has the rules of life for every place.

They don't want a better life?

It's just that there is no way!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 889 =====