Having said that, Mikhail took Roland around the gates of Geert's palace and introduced him to the special power structure of the city-state's authorities. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"There is a clear difference between Baiou Harbor and Kitland City, there is no 'city government' in the legal sense, instead of the city government to play the role of urban management is an industry association autonomous body, commonly known locally as the "33-person chamber", each of the 32 mainstream professional guilds in the city elects one person as a representative, responsible for fighting for the interests of all practitioners in the industry, and there is also a candidate for the speaker, as usual by the leader of the Yangbo family hereditary responsibility, in case of major issues, for and against the two sides are at a standstill, The Speaker can choose to support one side or the other, and he also has the right to shelve the motion to maintain the status quo. ”

When Roland heard him say this, he immediately thought of the pre-industrial city-states of the earth, controlled by the industrial and commercial guilds, such as Venice, Genoa, Cologne, and Flanders. It can be seen that the political atmosphere of Baiou Port is relatively democratic, but the administrative execution of the authorities is also lower, if Kitland City is a "big government", then Baiou Port is a typical "small government".

The official office of the Bend League was also located in Geert Palace, known locally as the "League Committee" or "House of Twelve", and the twelve members of parliament present represented one of the city-states of the Bend League, represented by Lyubov Yampo himself. Major issues concerning the Bend-German League were voted on by the Parliament, and the difference from the City Council was that Lyubov and the other city-states had only one vote, and there was no one with more weight than the other.

As you can imagine, this institution designed to reconcile the interests of the city-states of the alliance is looser and more contradictory than the "small government" within Baigull Harbor, and Roland is very skeptical about how useful this institution can be. Perhaps the so-called "House of Twelve" is just a club in the name of the House.

In front of the Geert Palace, there is an avenue leading to the central square, and in the middle of the square is a beautiful musical fountain, where a flock of white pigeons wander all year round in search of food, and passers-by are accustomed to throwing some crumbs or cookie crumbs at their hands.

In the fountain is a statue of a dolphin carved with intricate work, and a small blue dolphin, which symbolizes the emblem of the deep sea Sesila, seems to leap up with the help of the fountain thrust, and its tail sweeps out a puff of crystal water - and it is natural that on the opposite side of the square sits the solemn shrine dedicated to the deep sea Sesila.

Roland glanced towards the temple gate, and saw that under the colonnade lay many ragged men and women, looking very haggard, forming a somewhat inconsistent picture with the palatial temple.

"Who are those?"

Mikhail followed his gaze and replied nonchalantly: "There are pilgrims from other places, there are local vagrants, in fact, they are just a group of beggars, and you better leave them alone." ”

Roland nodded, silent. Baiou Harbor is indeed a beautiful and wealthy city-state, but there is always a shadow under the sun, and in this city-state with a total population of more than 100,000, the gap between the rich and the poor is also an undeniable reality. He wondered: what was the attitude of the city-state authorities towards this state of affairs?

Mikhail had planned to take Roland into the temple for a visit, but now he noticed that his face had become a little heavy, and he knew that he was affected by those homeless people, so he made a different proposal with interest.

"Mr. Roland said before that he was going to visit the textile factory, and I happen to know a factory owner who can take you around."

"Good idea." Roland said happily.

The industrial area of Hakugugang is located by the sea, mainly for the convenience of transportation and power.

Textile has developed from a family workshop to a large-scale industrial model of concentrated production in a factory, and the most important link is power.

Roland stands on a high vantage point and looks back at the bay area where Baiou Harbor light industry is concentrated, and the most striking scenery is not the large and small factories and workshops, but the neatly arranged water wheels and windmills along the beach, these simple mechanical devices rotate day and night, providing almost free power to the factories throughout the year.

In addition to textile mills, there are many mills by the sea, some of which are mainly engaged in grain processing, others are mainly engaged in oil extraction, and there are two main types of power units that drive the grinding discs, either waterwheels driven by tides or windmills driven by sea breezes.

The Magic Steam Power Plant, which was commonly used in the Kitland Mining District, the South, and the interior of the Empire, was relatively rare in the Port Baiou Industrial Zone, also because natural power such as tides and wind power were so abundant that the factory owners would not spend money on expensive Magic Steam Engines when free power was available. This is indeed the most profitable option in the short term, but it is not necessarily a good thing in the long run.

The field trip also validated some of Roland's ideas on industrial layout.

Coastal areas have limited pastures and do not have the conditions to raise a large number of wool-producing livestock such as sheep and loes, so it is impossible to become a source of textile materials.

The authorities of Baiou Port skillfully use the three comparative advantages of capital, technology and overseas trade to cut the light industry chain represented by textiles into two major links: upstream and downstream.

The local textile mills are only engaged in the downstream links of high value-added, that is, the cashmere and camel hair purchased centrally into woolen materials, half of which are exported for export and a quarter digested locally, and the high-end materials are sold to tailors, a little lower grade is sold to ready-to-wear stores, and the lowest-grade cheap fabrics are processed to clothing estimators - in this era of industrialization has just begun, there is no concept of ready-to-wear brands, and ready-to-wear stores and estimators face customers below the middle class, such as poor students and sailors running boats. People who are really fashionable will never buy ready-to-wear clothes, but ask tailors to make them tailor-made.

So where did the quarter go?

The answer is to sell back to those that provide raw materials for textiles such as wool, such as Kitland City.

Mikhail once revealed to Roland his business know-how: 400 bales of camel hair were sold at the price at the trade fair to a weaving mill controlled by the Yangbo Chamber of Commerce, and 200 horses of the season's popular printing and dyeing fabrics were used to offset the bills.

He used camel caravans to bring in wool yarn, and then transported the fabric back to Kitland City to sell, the quality of the machine-woven wool is better than that of homespun cloth, and the printing and dyeing are also more beautiful, and the wool yarn becomes woolen material, and you can earn more than 50% of the price difference when it changes hands, so now you know why he is disdainful of the "second-way dealers" who block the way to buy? Because he has a more secure and profitable underwriting channel.

"Business has reached this point, frankly speaking, the risks are all on the way, so you see that I may be more cost-effective in other places, but it is not stingy to hire mercenary bodyguards, and the Yangbo Chamber of Commerce is the same, as long as the sea is calm, you can lie down and make money, so no one looks forward to the peace of the world more than us traders." After explaining his business secrets to Roland, Mikhail said with heartfelt emotion. (To be continued.) )