Uncle Mikhail is one of the leading "veteran drivers" in the Northland business district, and the subsequent journey confirmed his prediction: the descent was smooth sailing, and after four days he arrived on the coast of the North Sea. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Roland and the others walked all the way down from the icy and snowy mountains, the closer they got to the North Bay, the flatter the terrain became, the climate changed from severe cold to mild, people took off their cotton clothes and changed into comfortable and light autumn clothes, densely populated villages along the way, poultry and livestock were everywhere, wild animals were blocked by high fences, and the villages were surrounded by endless fertile farmland, like a neatly divided green chessboard, and the farmers drove the ploughing oxen to drag heavy ploughshares equipped with wheels to plough the fields.

Immediately after the caravan arrived, a large group of traders came to sell the local products, Mikhail bought a bucket of herring and gave it to the cook to prepare dinner, and at the same time politely declined the request of a so-called "broker" to buy camel hair, and sent him away in a bad mood.

"These guys are brokers who specialize in deceiving outsiders," Mikhail explained to Roland and others afterwards, "They wander in groups like jackals on the main traffic arteries outside the city, and when they meet foreign merchants, they surround them and bite them, and they must not give them a good face!" ”

"They're spies sent by robbers?" Lyudmila asked.

Mikhail snorted, shook his head and said: "They are not robbers, but ...... Doing the same thing as a robber! ”

Roland noticed that the female ranger was still ignorant, so he smiled and explained to Mikhail the trick of those "roadblockers" to make a fortune: "It is less than a day's journey from Baiou Port, and the people in the city neither plough the fields nor grow vegetables, and the daily necessities of more than 100,000 people depend on the bazaar for food, clothing, shelter and transportation, and the goods in the bazaar come from three sources, high-end industrial products and luxury goods are mainly imported from overseas, agricultural and sideline products are mainly supplied by the city and the villages and plantations in the suburbs, and raw materials and primary products - such as camel hair - Relying on the supply of merchants from Kitland and other places, those so-called 'commodity brokers' are actually the general term of middlemen, channel dealers, and wholesalers, and those with lower grades are second-tier dealers, who neither produce nor sell directly, but start from the intermediate links of production and sales to make profits, purchase agricultural and sideline products in Guanxiang and villages in the suburbs, and even provide loans to local farmers when the crops in the fields are still seedlings, sign long-term underwriting contracts, and sell them to shops and retailers in the city after harvesting. If these people unite to monopolize the circulation channels between the place of production and the place of sale, then they can control the prices of many commodities in the downstream market, and they can lower the purchase price, and take advantage of the peasants and foreign merchants. ”

"Mr. Roland is so right! I simply saw through the black hearts of those brokers! Mikhail gave a thumbs up.

Nikita's eyes widened, and her face was full of disbelief: "People are not stupid, they can take their products to the city market and sell them, why let these brokers pass by and lose profits in vain?" ”

"Because their existence meets the needs of reality, the more active the commodity economy, the longer the journey from the production end to the sales end, and the lack of logistics transit links will lead to poor commodity circulation and hinder economic development." Finding this explanation too abstract, Roland continued: "For example, Uncle Mikhail sold camel hair to middlemen, although he lost part of the profits, but he didn't have to go to Baiou Port again, so many camel beasts and men live in the city, and they have to spend high food and lodging expenses every day, and they can find buyers to bargain at the fair, which can never be done in three or five days, 400 bags of camel hair are stored in the warehouse in the city, and they also have to pay a large amount of storage fees every day, and these expenses and time costs add up, I'm afraid it's no less profitable than selling directly to a middleman; Another example is the vegetable farmers on the outskirts of the city, every day to send the fresh vegetables produced in their own vegetable garden to the city farmers' market to sell, from morning to night to guard the stall is very hard, but also delay the work of the family, at night, the remaining vegetables are not fresh, can only be sold at a discount, can not be sold have to take home to eat, can not finish eating can only watch the vegetables rot, have to discard, rather than so time-consuming and laborious, it is better to sell all the vegetables early in the morning to the middlemen who come to buy the cart to save worry and effort. ”

Roland sighed, and continued: "Although the middlemen neither produce nor retail, but have a stable upstream and downstream channels and broad contacts, they can reduce transaction costs to a minimum, this is where their advantage in obtaining profits lies, when the development of the commodity economy reaches a certain height, these monopoly trading channels and advertising platform middlemen will become the big winners standing at the top of the social pyramid together with the financial capitalists, and the producers and sellers of other walks of life must bow down to them, not only to obediently pay protection fees, I have to stuff money and beg them to promote their products more, otherwise no matter how good things are, they won't be able to sell. ”

Nikita bit her red lip and nodded frequently, deeply feeling that the world is so big that there are no surprises, and if you don't go out for a walk, just bury yourself in the academy and do research, you will never be able to get in touch with these fresh knowledge related to the national economy and people's livelihood.

After a brief lunch, Roland planned to go around the nearby farmland. Vigraf hurriedly dropped his plate and followed him, and prepared a pen and notebook to keep track of.

In the Lucia Plateau, this is how he accompanied Roland to the villages around Kitland City, and the interview records of the villagers alone were written in three large volumes, and anyone who had read these records could fully understand the real ecology of the local countryside; Later, Roland made similar expeditions in Kitland, and Wiglaf added two more volumes to his records, all of which he regarded as treasures.

"Vigraf is like a loyal dog by Roland's side, stealing all of our jobs." Lyudmila muttered resentfully, it was her duty to help Roland document the journey before Vigraf appeared. The only thing to be thankful for is that the other party is a man after all, otherwise she would have to worry about Roland's empathy.

In the middle of summer, the wind is mild, the climate of the coastal farmland is pleasant, and Roland walks on the ridge, surrounded by endless golden wheat fields, which rise and fall like waves in the wind.

Farmers from nearby villages are all in battle to harvest wheat.

Roland didn't want to disturb the toiling people, and continued to stroll forward, silent in thought.

"Huh? The farmland over there is so strange, the wheat is still green! Veronica stood tall on a windmill and looked out over the pergola with her hands.

Lyudmila looked in the direction of her finger, and sure enough, it was a large lush green field, which contrasted with the golden wheat waves next to her, and when she approached to observe it carefully, the corners of the female ranger's mouth twitched, and finally she couldn't help but curse a dirty word.

"retarded!" (To be continued.) )