After careful preparation and a bombardment of public opinion, on June 6, 1623, the first gold banknotes were issued in the Far East.

Slightly different from Roland's original plan, this currency reform was not limited to the territory of the Kingdom of Kolas, but faced with the entire "Far Eastern Royal Court", and each member state simultaneously canceled the old gold coins and issued Far Eastern gold banknotes in a unified manner, and by the way, completed the big goal of "Far Eastern monetary integration".

Since the founding of the Far East, three monetary reforms have been carried out in less than five years. At first, it was the exchange of new currency for old currency, then silver money for silver currency, and now it is the turn of gold money for gold coins, although the people do not resist this, they will have some complaints, criticizing the government for tossing around:

"If you knew that gold banknotes would be issued, why did you mint Jintal to replace the Imperial Gold Duga in the first place?"

"It took a lot of effort to cast the gold and silver tales, but they were all taken back after just four years of circulation, so why bother!"

"Wouldn't it be more convenient to directly issue gold and silver banknotes to replace the imperial durga at the beginning of the founding of the country."

"Speaking of which, the official master is not thoughtful, one idea a day, and lacks long-term vision!"

……

In the early days of the issuance of gold bills, Roland casually walked into a Tavern in Krasbourg in disguise, and criticism like this would fill his ears.

These idlers who spend time in the tavern are like the "keyboard warriors" on the earth before him, standing and talking without a backache. Of course, Roland can refute them: At this time and that time, if paper money was issued at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, would you accept it? It's strange if you don't rebel!

But he couldn't openly scare others like this, so he could only swallow a sip of wine with a wry smile and hide his grievances in his heart.

In the past seven years since he traveled to the world of Vares, Roland has watched a country be established from scratch, from the initial poverty and whiteness to today's basic meeting of the people's food and clothing needs, and all walks of life are growing rapidly, and it has begun to show the atmosphere of a strong country. It is not modest to say that he himself deserves the first credit for these achievements made by the Far East since its founding.

However, Roland was never proud of this, the more he was in a high position and held great power, the more he felt his insignificance and vulnerability, and trembled as if he were walking on thin ice. He is not afraid of powerful enemies outside his borders, and what really trickles him is how to strike a balance between "public opinion" and "truth", which is the essence of statecraft.

In Roland's view, the "prestige" of a government is a valuable resource, and only when the prestige of the government is maintained above a certain level can the foundation of governance be called solid.

Some government policies – such as tax cuts – increase prestige, while others, such as tax hikes, can undermine government prestige by provoking public resentment. However, those in power must be soberly aware that policies that increase prestige are not necessarily good policies that are beneficial to the country and the people, and conversely, policies that reduce prestige are not necessarily bad policies.

If, in the process of policy-making, we blindly seek to enhance the prestige of those in power, we will inevitably become populists, and our policies will eventually damage the interests of the people, and we will inevitably be abandoned by the people's will. On the other hand, if an upright ruler completely ignores the feelings of the people and pursues policies that harm the interests of the people in the present but can bring greater welfare to the people in the long run, then he is like an overly strict parent, who will inevitably arouse the disgust of his children, and is likely to be ousted as a "tyrant" by the angry people before he has time to realize his ambitions.

A prudent ruler should find a balance between the above two extremes: when the government's prestige falls into the danger zone, immediately implement some policies that can please the people, and when the prestige rises to a certain height, it is not wise to continue to implement populist policies to enhance prestige, first, the marginal utility is diminishing, and second, too high prestige is actually a waste of resources, it is better to take this opportunity to implement some policies that are harmful to the current welfare of the people and essential in the long run, at the expense of some prestige. Take the country one step in the right direction.

The reason why Roland chose to issue gold banknotes at this time is because he has just won the love of the general public through the establishment of the national magic radio network, and his prestige has been raised to an unprecedented height.

If the time drags on for too long, and the people have become accustomed to the company of the radio, the excitement aroused in the first days of broadcasting will subside, and the love for Roland and the government of the Far East will also decline, and the resistance and resentment caused by the implementation of currency reform will be far stronger than now!

In the four years of politics, Roland has never relaxed his speculation about the public mentality, and every week he has to take some leisure time to sit in a humble tavern for two hours in disguise and listen to the people's discussions, which is a way for him to stay "grounded".

Roland didn't think there was anything to be commended, which should have been an essential lesson for all politicians.

However, Roland regrets to see that not all the people in high positions of power have such a consciousness, especially the young and vigorous "reformer" in the holy city of Assan, who seems to have never deeply understood the public opinion at the bottom, and every time he promotes a new policy that he thinks will benefit the country and the people, the imperial government has slipped in the direction of losing its prestige.

……

In fact, the Far East was not the first region in Vares's time to issue "gold banknotes" to replace gold coins, long before the Central Bank of the Far East issued the first gold banknotes, in early May 1623, under the strong impetus of the Crown Prince Frank, the Imperial Cabinet finally passed a resolution on the matter of "currency reform", authorizing the Ministry of Finance to cooperate with the Imperial Central Bank to preside over the issuance of "Imperial gold notes", gradually replacing the Dugga gold coins in circulation.

The Far Eastern government's bill for the issuance of gold banknotes came a full month after the introduction of the Imperial Gold Bill, which was seen by some "internationally minded" observers as emulating imperial policy. Prince Frank was also quite complacent about preemptively launching the gold bill ahead of Roland, and specially wrote a letter to Roland, which was literally nothing more than polite words such as "heroes see the same thing" and "learn from each other and make progress together", but the implication could not hide the show-off mentality.

Roland smiled at Frank's competitive mentality, and politely thanked him in reply, wishing the great cause of imperial reform a great success under the auspices of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and moving from victory to victory. As for whether this counts as "talking the opposite", it is up to the reader to speculate.

When Prince Frank received Roland's reply, he did something unexpected and in keeping with his usual personality, and without asking Roland if he agreed, he published the correspondence between the two men on the front page of the Holy City Daily.