Shadow Empire

Chapter 886 Initial Impressions [666+3]
Lapa is a relatively small country with a population of 12 million and an economy based on agriculture.

From this sentence, it seems that people will have a concept -

There must be a lot of farmers among the twelve million people.

But in reality the number of farmers is less than 10 percent of the total population.

Because the largest and best farms here are all in the hands of the ruling group, those who work for them on the farm cannot be considered farmers in the true sense of the word, they are just workers.

The land that was left for ordinary people was either not very good or was land that people later reclaimed themselves.

There are many mountains and rainforests in Lapa, and it is quite difficult to reclaim wasteland, so being able to own a piece of land is something that only a few people can do in Lapa.

Land means that they can meet their minimum needs for survival and still have the capacity to sell excess food to the state or food merchants to earn extra income.

Therefore, "farmers" in Lapa do not represent the bottom of society. As the bourgeoisie, they are already above most people and are decent people.

The proletariat, the poor lower class, is the core group of Lapa. They mainly make a living by selling their labor, and most of them are short-term workers.

According to official statistics from Lapa in previous years, the per capita income of Lapa is about 500 yuan per month.

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

After all, the elderly, children, and women in many countries do not have work income, so it is unreasonable to include them in the per capita income base.

Lapa uses the Lapatanan-specific currency, the para.

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

The official exchange rate of Lapa is ten Paras to one federal sol, and this official exchange rate has not changed for decades.

But in reality, one federal sole can be exchanged for about seventy dollars of Para in the underground exchange rate market.

This is also the source of livelihood for some currency dealers. They gather in places where foreign tourists enter the country and provide various currency exchange services that are more reasonable than the official exchange rate.

One federal sol can be exchanged for about sixty to sixty-five dollars of Para. When the tourists are ready to leave, if they want to exchange the Para for federal sols, they may have to pay seventy-two or seventy-five dollars.

They make money from this price difference.

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

Sorry, they never have enough federal soles. You can never exchange ten paras for one federal sole here, but you can exchange one federal sole for ten paras, and the exchange is unlimited.

They can exchange as much as you have.

As soon as Lance got off the boat, many local people with bags came towards him enthusiastically, but before they got close, Lance's people blocked them outside the crowd.

He had prepared for the worst, but the situation here was much better than he had imagined. At least there were no people urinating or defecating anywhere and leaving excrement behind, and the air was not so smelly.

Seeing that they could not find business here, the currency dealers quickly rushed towards other tourists. They held stacks of Para in their hands and shouted out the exchange rates they could offer.

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

Many people will definitely inquire about the situation here before coming to Lapa. The Lapa market accepts the direct use of the federal sol, but they will give change according to the official exchange rate, which is obviously a form of extortion.

But this extortion is protected by the local police. If you think it is unreasonable, they will call the police, and in the end it is the tourists who will suffer.

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

Roger stood beside Lance. He looked at the people around him and said with some emotion, "I used to think I was poor, but now that I am standing here, I realize that there are always people living in worse situations than you are now."

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

The empire is also very poor, and social resources are infinitely concentrated in the hands of the nobles, but the situation is not as bad as it is here.

A large number of dirty children were standing timidly outside the dock. Several guys wearing what looked to be police uniforms were holding sticks in their hands and staring at them viciously.

Further away are various small stalls selling things unique to Lapa. The entire port and dock do not look like what the "country's largest port" should look like.

More and more tourists got off the ship. As the Asian Alliance and the Federation concluded many alliances, the entire Asian Alliance market was completely open. Many people who could not find opportunities in the Federation also began to move to Asia.

There are so many things about success in the Federation, and these books always encourage people to boldly try to take the first step.

Some people rush to an unfamiliar environment and fantasize about becoming the next creator of the federal dream.

But most people will eventually become silent and disappear in this wave.

This is Lapa's largest port, as well as Lapa's largest city and capital. Lance waited at the dock for more than ten minutes, and a luxurious convoy soon arrived at the dock.

The police on duty at the dock immediately ran over. After bending down and confirming with the driver for a while, they began to disperse the beggars around.

They just beat them with sticks. The beggars, including the dirty children, did not dare to resist and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, Gomez got out of the car and trotted towards this side. He saw Lance and the people around Lance from afar.

He took a deep breath, put on a smile, ran to a place not far from Lance, stopped, stretched out his hands, and walked over quickly. "Mr. Lance!" Lance stretched out a hand and he held it tightly, exuding a burning enthusiasm, "Welcome to Lapa!"

Lance nodded slightly, then introduced him, "The person next to me is Mr. Roger, he is the current president of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce."

"We came here this time to see if there are any projects that we can invest in."

Gomez was stunned for a moment, but soon shook 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 and said, "I have already arranged a hotel. Let's get in the car and rest in the hotel. We can talk about it in detail in the evening?"

He deliberately drove out his most luxurious fleet of vehicles, but Lance did not move.

Just when he was still a little confused, a row of vehicles on the passenger ship behind Lance slowly drove out from the cargo hold exit.

He looked at those strange-looking cars with some uncertainty. These cars looked boxy and lacked any streamlined beauty.

Even Gomez, who lives in a backward area like Lapa, knows the "beauty of lines."

But these cars gave him a very powerful feeling.

With wide and thick tires and a higher chassis, he was very skeptical, is this thing really comfortable to sit on?

After the convoy arrived in front of Lance, Lance did not invite Gomez to get in the car, but got in the car himself.

Roger smiled at Gomez and got in the car as well.

Immediately afterwards, the more than one hundred people who came with Lance to the dock also got on the car.

It seems that these cars do have quite a few advantages, at least they can hold a lot of stuff.

With some doubts, Gomez returned to his car and then went to the largest hotel in the area under the escort of a police car.

"Don't you like this Gomez?" Roger asked softly as he sat next to Lance. He could feel that Lance was a little indifferent to this man.

Lance didn't deny it either, "A bit of a stupid ambitious guy."

After hearing this, Roger immediately smiled.

In fact, stupidity alone or ambition alone may not necessarily make people dislike someone, but when these two characteristics are combined, people will definitely not like them.

Thinking of this, Roger asked, "Should we still cooperate with him?"

Lance thought about it for a moment, "Why not?"

"Although I don't like him, I can still work with him."

"He wants us to build a force that can compete with Diego's family more than we do. Only in this way can he continue to have everything he has now."

"Status, wealth, privilege, everything."

Roger understood clearly in his mind and nodded.

Then both of their attention was drawn to the street scenes in the city.

As the capital and most prosperous place of Lapa, the streets of this city actually look pretty good.

There are also some foreign tourists on the street, some in groups of three or five, and some are an adult male accompanied by a young, local woman. This combination is very common.

The tour guide, or companion, business is very common throughout Asia.

They provide guide services to these foreign tourists and also take care of their physiological problems.

Because some young women have successfully left here with these foreign tourists and went to developed countries, such as the Federation.

They live a "federal modern life" that everyone envies, so more and more women are joining this industry.

Lance noticed it just now at the port. Outside the dock, there were quite a few girls who looked to be only 18, 19, 22, 23 or 24 years old. They were dressed fashionably and boldly and were standing there holding "Guide" signs.

They could be hired for just one hundred and fifty paras a day, about two federal soles.

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

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

Just as Lance's convoy started to leave the dock, he saw that some female tour guides had successfully obtained an "order".

But he would not think these girls were shameful or pitiful. Every place has its own rules of life.

Don’t they want a better life?
There's just nothing I can do!

(End of this chapter)