Baiou Port is a seaside port city, and the 160,000 citizens in the city are not engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, and all daily necessities such as meat, vegetables, eggs, milk, wine, sugar, tea, seasonings and bread are supplied by the bazaar. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Where do the grains and non-staple foods come from in the bazaar?

A small part of the production comes from the surrounding countryside, especially specialties such as wine and olive oil, and most of it comes from overseas imports, mainly cheap grains from the grain producing regions of the New World.

That's right, it's not just Kitland City that relies on overseas grain imports, White Gull Harbor has the same demand!

In fact, at the beginning of the rise of the Bend Confederation states, it was in order to meet the growing demand for food that they had to cross the sea to buy grain, and later the maritime trade became larger and larger, forming a scale effect, which resold the imported grain consumed by the locals to the Kitlanders.

Now that the straits have been blocked by pirates, the North Bay has become an inland lake, not to mention maritime trade, and even ships that go to the traditional fishing areas have been seized by pirates, and there are immediate signs of a shortage of supplies needed to sustain basic life in the market.

In this panicked situation, if you were a budget-conscious citizen, what would you think, what would you do?

The answer is just two words: Buy!

"It's time to put Lyuba to the test." Roland muttered softly.

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye it was noon, and Vigraf and Bloom hurried back, and their faces were not very good.

"Mr. Roland, I've been walking around the docks, and things are not going well." Vigraf took the tea handed by Roland and drank it down, wiped his mouth and continued, "The major shipping companies have received an urgent notice issued by Ms. Lyubov to stop ocean voyages until the situation in the North Bay improves, which means that all overseas trade has been interrupted, local goods cannot be transported, and they have to occupy dock warehouses and warehouses for storage, which directly increases the cost of storage, and what is worse is that the grain in the New World cannot be transported in, and the grain in the city is limited, and I am afraid that there will be a food shortage in the long run." ”

Coming from Kitland, where he is not self-sufficient in food and has long relied on overseas imports, Vigraf is well aware of the terrible consequences of food shortages, and he cannot help but worry about the survival prospects of the 160,000 citizens of Baiou Harbor.

"The dockers and seafarers also have a concern, that is, the general mobilization of war readiness, and I find that there is a fundamental ideological difference between the inhabitants of Baigull Harbor and us Kitlanders: we Kitlanders have a traditional martial spirit, and when necessary, we can be soldiers regardless of men, women, and children, and few people complain about it; However, the residents of Baiou Harbor were generally anti-war sentiments, and complained a lot about the requisition of civilian ships for military use, and the temporary integration of seafarers into the militia...... Frankly speaking, I can't count on it when it comes to the battlefield. ”

Wiglaf shook his head, and as a soldier, he made no secret of his criticism of the common mentality of the locals who were greedy for comfort and afraid of war: "I think they have lived a good life for a long time, and most of them have lost their sense of crisis, and they take peace for granted, but they don't know the blood and sweat that countless soldiers have paid for it." ”

Roland bowed slightly: "Indeed, as you said, Baigull Harbor has been peaceful for a long time, and the giant demon island where pirates are entrenched is actually more like a toll booth, and has not attacked the coastal city-states for many years, and people are used to a stable and prosperous life...... Bloom, what's the atmosphere like in the tavern? ”

"If you're going to ask how business is, it's really hot!" The big dwarf brother shrugged, "The ocean route is blocked, and many sailors are so idle that they can only run to the tavern to fight and fight to kill time, but considering that the price of various alcohols has skyrocketed overnight, they are obviously not happy. ”

"A big price increase?"

"Hah! Let's just put it this way, I spent 3 copper coins on my first beer, yesterday it was only 2 copper coins, and when I ordered the second beer, it had already risen to 4 copper coins, just think about it, how terrible it is! The dwarf smacked his tongue and wanted to laugh but couldn't.

Roland understands this, and the maritime embargo has led to a shortage of grain. When the winery learns that the price of raw materials has risen, in order to maintain profits, it can only increase the ex-factory price of alcohol, and the tavern as a liquor retailer will of course also increase the price simultaneously, so the pressure of inflation will follow the process of raw materials - processing - sales (wholesale) - retail layer by layer, and finally exerted on each consumer, the intuitive feeling is that prices are soaring!

The link closest to the raw material end is relatively under the least pressure in inflation, because it has the initiative to raise prices because it holds scarce resources, while ordinary consumers who are farthest away from the raw material end are under the most inflationary pressure, and their income cannot rise with the inflation rate, and as a result, they become the bearers of the price.

The above analysis does not include factors that artificially exacerbate inflation. If the grain supplier is black-hearted enough, he will not be satisfied with a limited price increase, anyway, food is just needed, you have to starve to death if you don't eat, since the food supply channel is now cut off, he sells the flour he hoards as gold, don't you want to be starved to death and have to exchange it for the same weight of gold?

In this way, instead of suffering from inflation, grain merchants can take advantage of the opportunity to make a profit.

No one does money-losing business, and even if you risk killing your head, you can do money-making business! What's more, under the premise of free competition, it is considered a reasonable and legitimate market law that scarce things are expensive, and if the government authorities do not interfere, what is wrong with grain merchants sitting back and watching the poor starve to death?

One person may be seen as a morally corrupt profiteer, but what if all business owners think so?

Under the premise that food prices are soaring, if other industrial and commercial owners do not raise prices at the same time, it is not a matter of reducing profits, and their families cannot afford to buy grain......

The truth is as simple as that: as long as the price of food rises, the price of the vast majority of goods you know or do not know will rise, because people can only engage in labor production if they have a full stomach.

So either active or passive, in the end, all levels of production and sales of daily necessities must be raised in a way that you chase me and rush forward! From the macro scale of social economy, the inflation rate snowballs until it is completely out of control!

In the end, this price is borne by ordinary people who do not have any scarce resources in their hands.

If you don't want to be squeezed out of the last drop of blood, you can only go out and violently seize the materials necessary for survival.

If that day comes, people will plunder and kill each other in order to survive, and the order of the city will completely collapse, and it will become a dark jungle of the jungle...... (To be continued.) )