After listening to Roland's answer, Yodel nodded approvingly: "That's basically the case, but the scope of application of the Imperial Preferential System includes not only overseas colonies, but also our Far Eastern provinces...... Some people may not understand that the Far Eastern provinces are the formal administrative regions of the empire, how can they be treated in the same way as overseas colonies. Because this administrative region is very special, it is a penal colony specially used to house heretics and criminals, like a stepmother's raising, good things can't be turned, bad things can't run, and in terms of political status, it is even inferior to overseas colonies. Yodel said this, and his face couldn't help but show resentment, and it didn't look like a fake.

"I understand what you mean, Mr. Yodl, that the Empire introduced the Corn Laws to protect the big landowners, which led to high grain prices in the country, and the urban poor who could not afford bread and starved, and the industrialists and businessmen had to raise the prices of the goods they produced because of the high food prices, and the high food prices spread to every corner of the social economy, causing prices to rise, the cost of living was extremely high, and the middle and lower classes suffered greatly, and these grievances accumulated over time and turned into turmoil. The Imperial Government had to find a way to bypass the restrictions of the Corn Laws and obtain cheap food supplies to sustain the common people, and as far as I know, the protected crops specified in the Corn Laws included wheat, barley, rye, and oats, and I don't know if this was intentional on the part of the legislators or because rice was rarely grown in the interior of the Empire, and this crop was not included in the list, so rice was not subject to the Corn Laws and was an excellent substitute for bread, and because of the existence of the Imperial System of Preferences, the Imperial Government could purchase rice uniformly in the Far East at a lower price, This is tantamount to passing on the high costs of the Corn Laws to our Far Eastern peasants. At this, Roland hesitated for a moment, and then asked Yodel, "Regardless of whether this is fair or not, why doesn't the imperial government sell it on the grain market, since the imperial government obtains cheap rice by squeezing the Far Easterners?" ”

"Because the same people who supported the Corn Laws didn't agree!" Yodel smiled wryly, "You think, if rice from the Far East floods the market, people will not buy high-priced flour if they have cheap rice to eat, and the unsalable flour will force the price of grain to fall, and the price of grain will force the rent to fall, and those rentiers who own a lot of land will suffer as a result, how can this be allowed to happen?" Of course, it was necessary to unite to prevent the imperial authorities from putting the rice expropriated from the Far East into the grain market. This group of local magnates, noble lords, and local churches and monasteries owned most of the cultivated land in the interior of the empire, and their power was extremely powerful, and His Majesty the Emperor had to prioritize their interests, and in the end he had to choose to compromise. ”

Roland listened attentively and asked, "This rice is purchased and can't be digested within the empire, what happens in the end?" ”

"Sold, of course." Yodel smiled, "The conservative forces within the empire are too strong to hinder the sale of rice, but don't forget that there are large and small vassal states and client states around the empire, as well as overseas colonies, these places are either poor and poor, or the people are rampant with fierce monsters, and there are constant wars all year round, and there are not many countries that can achieve self-sufficiency in grain production, and the imperial government can dump the Far Eastern rice collected at a low price by three times, as for the overseas colonies, such as Grabelen, which is an area with developed agriculture, With the export of grain as the mainstay of its economy, it stands to reason that there is no need to import rice, but don't forget that the 'Imperial System of Preferences', the colonial governor can only pinch his nose and take out financial allocations to buy high-priced rice that is not needed locally, and for many years the imperial government has used this hegemonic means to control the international grain market, forcibly buying and selling to make huge profits, and using this revenue to make up for the fiscal deficit, and the increase in land rent and prices caused by the implementation of the "Corn Laws" is precisely the main reason for the fiscal deficit. This is tantamount to the imperial authorities subsidizing the big landowners with the proceeds from the resale of rice, so that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and if this situation continues, sooner or later there will be a big mess. ”

Roland agrees. He did not know about the situation in the inland provinces of the empire, and he did not want to speculate, but the grain trade system established by the "Corn Laws" and the "Imperial System of Preferences" was fundamentally unfair, and was completely a manifestation of the hegemony of the empire.

In this trade system, the first to suffer was the Far Eastern peasant class. As the largest grain producing area in the empire, the locals could not eat the rice they planted, and the low prices imposed on the Far East prevented farmers from reaping their due benefits from farming, and they only barely survived after working hard all year round.

The second to be exploited were the vassals and colonies of the empire. In a normal trading system, they could have purchased rice directly in the Far East at a fair price, but under the shackles of the "Imperial System of Preferences", they had to import high-priced rice from grain exporters licensed by the imperial authorities. Roland had heard that the imperial authorities had deliberately instigated rebellions in the minority areas of the Grand Duchy of Baoswa, and financed warlords to fight and destroy the local social order, so that the fertile plains with high grain production had become devastated and full of fire, and the powerful in various places had to import grain to maintain the army, and the agents who had obtained the imperial license to export grain took the opportunity to make a fortune.

To the list of victims was the emerging class of business owners and burghers in the interior of the empire. These people do not occupy land, food is all dependent on the market supply, people can only work or do business when they have a full stomach, not to mention that most industrial products must be used as raw materials for agricultural products, food prices are too high will inevitably cause the cost of industrial products to rise, and the demand elasticity of industrial products is much greater than that of grain, people will die if they don't eat, and they can always make do with buying a blanket or an iron pot less, which will cause the demand in the domestic market to shrink, and businessmen will also be unlucky, and it is even more difficult to export, and the price of similar foreign products is not competitive. Even with the blessing of the Imperial System of Preferences and tariff reduction, it is difficult to open up sales, and in the end it can only tear its skin and open the way by force, but the cost of waging war is too huge, and the current financial situation of the empire cannot support continuous wars.

Thinking of this, Roland suddenly smiled. In such a situation, if my father made some disturbances in the Far East, he should be able to gain the sympathy of the above-mentioned forces and provide support and even support to the revolutionaries in the Far East, and the imperial authorities would be constrained by all sides, and it would be difficult for them to make the decision to suppress the revolution in the Far East by force.