Mikhail was fond of chattering when he drank, and the young men in the same car were drowsy, and only Roland chatted with him with great interest, and learned a lot of valuable information from the experienced businessman. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Roland was more concerned about the livelihood of ordinary Kitlanders than the obvious braggart, so he asked Mikhail about the prices in Kitland, most of which were within his expectations, except for the low price of food.

"The market price of a pound of wheat is 2 copper coins, and the whole wheat flour is 3 copper coins a pound? Uncle Mikhail, you're not kidding, are you? ”

"Young man, do I dare to talk nonsense about this kind of thing? If you don't believe me, go to the city and ask for it. Mikhail said with a look of grievance.

Roland believed he wouldn't be convinced, but how to explain that the price of food in Kitland was exactly the same as that in Fort Atonement?

The food supply of the Fort of Atonement was guaranteed by the farms on the surrounding plains, and the cost was relatively low, and the grain output was maintained at the level of sowing 1 and harvesting 5 for a long time, that is, one seed was sown, and four grains were left after the harvest, excluding the remaining seeds, and the grain yield in the area under the guidance of the druids could at least double; However, the Alpine region where the Kitlanders are located lacks fertile land, the productivity of agricultural labor is far inferior to that of the plains, and the best years are only sowing 1 and reaping 4, and the transaction cost of imported grain is bound to be higher. This is clearly not in line with the general laws of the market.

As a traveler from the earth, Roland, like all young people who care about food security, is very sensitive to the price changes of yellow, small and jade in the international futures market; When he came to the world of Vares, as the son of the commander of the Far Eastern militia, he also had to care about the food supply in various places, how could he be indifferent to the abnormal prices of small, black, large, and swallow grains?

Mikhail saw Roland's brows tightly knit and pondered, thinking that the other party suspected him of bragging, so he crossed his fingers and calculated an account for him.

"You see, the CIF price of the grain imported from Baiou Port is 2 copper coins and 1 pound of wheat, or 3 copper coins and 1 pound of ground whole wheat flour, and my caravan will transport the flour to Kitland City, and travel thousands of miles without producing a single copper plate profit, which is equivalent to bringing dry food and working for nothing!"

Roland couldn't help but laugh out loud when he heard his troubled complaints: "Uncle Mikhail, don't come with me, let's be honest, how much subsidy will you be given for running back and forth to the city hall?" ”

Mikhail's old face turned red, and he sneered and gave him a thumbs up: "You are an expert!" ”

There are people who do all kinds of business, and no one does only the business that loses money. Mikhail certainly wouldn't lose money as he had previously claimed, in fact, for every 10 pounds of flour he transported back to Kitland City from Port Baiou, he could receive a subsidy of 1 copper coin from the town hall, and his caravan had 100 highland lothmons, and it only took two or three months to run back and forth, and the gross profit of transporting 1,000,000 pounds of flour alone was 1,000 gold coins, not counting the profits generated by the goods shipped to Port Baigull, and the income was quite huge.

Financial subsidies to lower food prices were certainly a good thing for ordinary Kitlanders, and a good deal of good governance, but Roland also realized that it would inevitably deal a devastating blow to the already fragile farming industry in the highlands.

Historically, the Kitlanders were very good at farming, and in those days when there were no maritime trade routes, industrious northland farmers could barely make ends meet by growing barley, rye, and potatoes as staple foods on the highlands. Nowadays, under the squeeze of a large number of imported grain + financial subsidies, in the environment of artificially low food prices, local farmers have no profit to continue farming, and have to give up their arable land to go to the city to earn a living.

With fewer people farming and more people eating, the question arises – will Kitland provide enough jobs for the large number of landless peasants? Expanding the army and renting out mercenaries alone may not solve the growing army of unemployed.

Through chatting with Mikhail, Roland has a relatively clear understanding of the economic situation of Kitland City.

Kitland's most advantageous industries are undoubtedly mining and metallurgy, where there are abundant reserves of coal, iron, copper, lead, tin and other minerals, as well as very precious cold iron ore, and the proven open-pit coal and iron deposits are enough to be mined for two centuries, but it is precisely because of the rich mineral deposits that the Kitlanders have caused many disasters.

Kitland is often compared to the similarly rich Icewind Valley, but Roland is well aware that such a stiff comparison would not be fair to Kitland.

Icewind Dale is the dominant family of the Far Eastern dwarves, and they can mine as much as they want, but the Lucia Mountains, where the Kitlanders are located, are infested with complex beasts, and the cost of mining is higher than that of Icewind Dale.

The original overlords of the Northland Mountains were undoubtedly the Far Eastern Orcs, who had to pay tribute to the Orc monarchs, and were in fact slaves who mined, wrought iron, and provided armor and weapons for the Orcs, who had endured oppression for a long time while cultivating the skills of mining and metallurgy that had been passed down for generations.

After the collapse of the Orc kingdom due to internal strife, the Kitlanders were given the opportunity to become independent and build their own homeland, the Kitlander Fortress.

Over the next century, the Kitlanders used the fortress as a base to mine the surrounding mineral deposits, and built satellite towns based on the mines, building roads to connect the fortress. During these relatively peaceful years, the Kitlanders had a good time of growing and their population grew rapidly.

However, the rapid rise of the "Dragon's Eye" replaced the former hegemony of the Orc Kingdom in the north, once again posing a threat to the survival of the Kitlanders. The self-proclaimed noble dragon-blooded creatures disdained to mine and smelt iron with their own hands, they needed more slaves and a large number of skilled workers.

At first, they tried to enslave the orcs to this "menial job", but they were disappointed to find that the orcs were too stupid to learn the complicated mining and smelting processes, the efficiency was too low, and the steel smelted was too high in impurities to sell for a good price.

After that, it was natural for them to turn their minds to the Kitlanders, who were better at the job, and for this reason, the Dragon's Eye had waged frequent wars over the years in an attempt to enslave the historic northern people.

The Kitlanders were unable to resist the onslaught of the Dragon's Eye and were forced to abandon distant towns and mines and move into the fortress for refuge, which is the root cause of the population explosion of Kitlander in recent years - not a natural process of urbanization, but a necessity to expand the city for security and management reasons.

For a long time, forty percent of the food of the Kitlanders relied on self-production and self-consumption, and sixty percent of the ore was exchanged for imported grain, but now due to the lack of security, there are fewer and fewer farms outside the city, and most of the mines are seized by the "dragon's eye", but more and more grain needs to be imported, and the fiscal deficit is snowballing, if it is not properly solved, a famine can completely destroy the Kitland fortress from the inside.

How to solve a potential crisis?

Roland examines the plight of the Kitlanders from an outsider's perspective, and it is not difficult to come to a more objective conclusion: mineral resources are the source of wealth for the Kitlanders, and they are also the bane of the "Dragon's Eye".

The Dragon's Eye will not give up its ambition to dominate the North, and the future fate of the Kitlanders is nothing more than three possibilities: either bow to the Dragon's Eye and be willing to be a slave in exchange for a living in secret; Either resolutely resist the invasion of the Dragon Castle and destroy it completely; Either follow the example of the orcs, abandon the fortresses, mines, and all the foundations that have been painstakingly operated for many years, and migrate to the south to earn a living.

These three paths are not easy to walk, Roland feels a headache from the perspective of a bystander, and the difficult situation of King Beowulf can be imagined now.

On second thought, Kitland's difficult situation wasn't all bad for him.

The Kidlanders were forced to put away their pride and thirst for aid from the south more than ever, and in this situation, Lord Beowulf had to seriously consider making an alliance with the Kolas army he represented.

Thinking that he had the opportunity to take the initiative in the negotiation with the legendary powerhouse, the corners of Roland's lips couldn't help but rise slightly. (To be continued.) )