Empire of Shadows

Rapa is a relatively small country with a population of 12 million, with agriculture as its main economic pillar.

From this one sentence, it seems people might get a concept—

There must be many farmers among the 12 million people.

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

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

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

Rapa has many mountains and rainforests, and the difficulty of reclaiming wasteland is relatively high, so to be able to have one’s own piece of land is already a minority in Rapa.

Land represents the minimum demand they can meet to ensure their own survival, and they also have the spare capacity to sell the surplus grain to the state or to grain merchants to earn extra income.

So ”farmer” in Rapa does not represent the bottom of society. As a propertied class, they are already above most people; they are respectable people.

The proletariat, the poor at the bottom, is the core group of Rapa. They mainly make a living by selling their labor, and most of them are short-term workers.According to the official statistics of Rapa in the past few years, the per capita income in Rapa is about 500 Paras a month.

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

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

Rapa uses the currency unique to Rapa-te Yalan, the Para.

The Para is a small currency. It does not have settlement business or space in the international currency market, so its international circulation is not large.

The official exchange rate set by Rapa is that 10 Paras can be exchanged for 1 Federal Sol. This official exchange rate has not been changed for decades.

But in fact, 1 Federal Sol can be exchanged for about 70 Paras in the underground exchange rate market.

This is also a source of income for a part of the exchange dealers. They will gather in some of the places where foreign tourists enter the country, providing all kinds of exchange services that are more reasonable than the official exchange rate.

One Federal Sol can be exchanged for about sixty to sixty-five Paras from them. When the tourists are ready to leave, and they want to exchange the Paras in their hands back into Federal Sols, they may need to pay seventy-two or three, or even seventy-five.

What they earn is this difference.

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

Sorry, their Federal Sols are never enough. You can’t exchange ten Paras for one Federal Sol here, but you can exchange one Federal Sol for ten Paras, and it’s an unlimited exchange.

However much you have, they can exchange that much.

As soon as Lance got off the ship, many locals with bags slung over their shoulders enthusiastically came over. It was just that before they could get close, Lance’s men had blocked them outside the crowd.

He had already prepared for the worst, but the situation here was much better than he had imagined. At least there were no people who were defecating in public and the excrement left behind. The air was not so smelly either.

Those exchange dealers, seeing that there was no business to be found here, quickly rushed towards the other tourists. They were holding stacks of Paras in their hands, shouting the exchange rate they could give.

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

Many people, before they came to Rapa, would definitely first inquire about the situation here. The Rapa market accepts the direct use of Federal Sols, but they will give change according to the official exchange rate, which is clearly 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 will still be these tourists who are out of luck.

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

Roger stood by Lance’s side. He looked at the people around him and was a little moved. ”I’ve always felt that I was very poor, but now, after standing here, I finally realize that there is always a worse environment in this world, and the people who live there.”

”It’s just like being back in the Empire, and even worse than the Empire.”

The Empire was also very poor. The social resources were infinitely gathered in the hands of the nobles, but the situation would not be as bad as here.

A large number of dirty children were standing timidly outside the dock. A few of the guys who were wearing what should be police uniforms were holding sticks in their hands, staring at them fiercely.

Further away were all kinds of small stalls and vendors, selling some of the things that were unique to Rapa. The entire port, the dock, did not at all look like what the ”country’s largest port” should.

More and more tourists were coming down from the passenger ship. With the conclusion of many alliances between the Yalan League and the Federation, the market of the entire Yalan League had been completely opened. Many of the people who could not find opportunities in the Federation had also begun to go to Yalan.

There were too many things about success in the Federation. These books were always encouraging people to bravely try to take the first step.

Some people, in a moment of excitement, had come to an unfamiliar environment, fantasizing about becoming the next creator of the Federation dream.

But most people, in the end, would only be silent, and disappear in this wave.

This was the largest port in Rapa, and also the largest city and capital of Rapa. Lance had waited on the dock for more than ten minutes. A convoy of luxury cars soon arrived at the side of the dock.

The police who were on duty at the dock immediately ran over, currying favor. They had bent their waists and had confirmed with the driver for a while, and then had begun to disperse the surrounding beggars.

They had directly used their sticks to hit them. Those beggars, including those dirty little children, had not dared to resist, and in the blink of an eye, they had disappeared.

At the same time, Gomez, after getting out of the car, had run towards this side. He had seen Lance from a distance, and also the people around Lance.

He took a deep breath, a smile on his face. He had stopped not far from Lance, and then had extended his hands, and had walked over quickly.

”Mr. Lance!” Lance extended one hand, which was held tightly by him. He was exuding a fiery enthusiasm. ”Welcome to Rapa!”

Lance nodded slightly, and then introduced for him, ”The one by my side is Mr. Roger. He is the current president of the Empire Chamber of Commerce.”

”We have come here this time, just to see if there are any projects we can invest in.”

Gomez was stunned for a moment, but he quickly grabbed Roger’s hand. ”President Roger, I am Gomez, the president of the Rapa Chamber of Commerce. I am very happy that you can come here to invest.”

He looked around. ”I have already arranged a hotel. Let’s get in the car first, go to the hotel and rest. In the evening, we can talk in detail?”

He had specially brought out his most luxurious convoy, but Lance had not moved.

Just when he was still a little puzzled, on the passenger ship behind Lance, a row of a convoy had slowly driven out from the cargo hold exit.

He looked at those strange-looking cars, a little unsure. These cars looked square, without any of the beauty of a streamlined design.

Even Gomez, who lived in a backward region like Rapa, knew about the ”beauty of lines.”

However, these cars did give him a very powerful feeling.

Wide tires, a higher chassis. He was very suspicious, would this thing be comfortable to sit on?

After the convoy had arrived in front of Lance, Lance did not invite Gomez to get in his car, but had directly gotten into the car himself.

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

Then, the more than one hundred people who had come with Lance on the dock had all gotten into the car.

From this point of view, these cars also had many advantages. At the very least, they could hold a lot.

Gomez, with some doubts, returned to his own car. Then, under the escort of the police car clearing the way, they headed to the largest local hotel.

”You don’t like this Gomez?” Roger asked in a low voice, sitting next to Lance. He could feel that Lance was a little cold towards this person.

Lance did not deny it. ”A somewhat stupid ambitious man.”

After hearing this, a smile immediately appeared on Roger’s face.

In fact, to be just stupid, or just an ambitious man, might not necessarily make people dislike him, but when these two characteristics were combined, it would definitely not make people like him.

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

Lance considered for a moment. ”Why not?”

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

”He, more than us, hopes that we can build up a force that can compete with the Diego family. Only in this way can he continue to have everything he has now.”

”Status, wealth, privilege, everything.”

Roger already understood in his heart and nodded.

Then the attention of the two was attracted by the streetscape of the city.

This city, as the capital of Rapa, the most prosperous place, its streets actually looked not bad.

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

A tour guide, or rather, an escort, this business was very common in the entire Yalan, and was common.

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

Because there were some young women who had, through this method, successfully left here with these foreign tourists, and had gone to developed countries, for example, the Federation, and had lived a ”Federation-style modern life” that everyone envied, so more and more women had joined this industry one after another.

Just now at the port, Lance had noticed that outside the dock, there were many girls who looked to be only eighteen or nineteen, twenty-two or three or four, wearing fashionable and bold clothes, and holding a ”tour guide” sign.

For just 150 Paras a day, about two Federal Sols, you could hire them.

To be honest, this was much more cost-effective than directly spending money to help those girls who needed help.

They could not only provide tour guide services, but could also take care of the employer’s emotions, and at night, they could also release some of the passion of having come to a new environment.

Just as Lance’s convoy was starting and leaving the dock, he had seen that some of the female tour guides had already successfully gotten an ”order.”

However, he would not think that these girls were shameful or pitiful. Every place has its own rules for living.

Don’t they want to live a better life?

It’s just that there’s no way!