In Roland's view, Mr. Jodl was a representative of this elite class, whose views on the tensions between the Far Eastern provinces and the Imperial government represented the general perception of the Far East's cultural elite and the middle and lower class of public officials in the Far East, who were the supporters that the Koras family needed to enlist.

"There are subtle differences between those who grew up eating bread in the interior of the empire and those of us who grew up eating rice, both in terms of personality and concept of things, and we Far Easterners are more focused on collective interests, proud of hardships and hard work, and ashamed of extravagance and waste, and the inhabitants of the interior of the empire are ......," Yodel smiled and changed his words, "This is probably my prejudice. ”

"Mr. Yodle, I'm afraid there is some generation gap between us on this issue, I didn't grow up eating rice, as far as I know, most of the officers and men of the Kolath Legion also grew up eating black bread and even wild vegetable batter like me, and I guess most of the friends you met in the interior of the empire ate white bread." Roland expressed his disagreement in a joking tone.

Yodel smiled apologetically and explained to Roland that he was not ignorant of the people's suffering: "In the last ten years, there is indeed such a strange phenomenon, the Far East, as the largest rice-producing area in the empire, but limited to the unified purchase of rice, in recent years, most of the rice has been forced to sell to the interior of the empire at a very low price, and the locals living in the rice-producing areas have few opportunities to eat white rice, and the poor can only eat black bread mixed with bran, and even eat oats and other livestock feed, and the standard of living is much worse than before, frankly speaking, On this issue, I support your father's assertion that the oppression of the Far Easterners has increased in recent years and that all kinds of injustices must be corrected. ”

Roland, of course, could hear Yodel's implication, and one of the main purposes of his visit to Great Rapids was to hear such political statements, but he was not satisfied with this, and wanted to discuss some deeper social issues with the mayor.

"Mr. Yodle, you are a top graduate of the Imperial University in Commerce, and I have had the pleasure of reading your article on agriculture and grain trade in the Far East published in the Far Eastern Daily, and I am very inspired, and I would like to ask you some questions."

Yodel perked up and seemed to be scratched, and said with a smile: "Mr. Roland is so polite, in fact, I have also read in the newspapers about your issuance of construction bonds in Kitland, the organization of athletic games, and the response to the economic crisis in Port Baigull. ”

Yodel's words are really not sycophants, Roland's trip to the north is indeed covered in a column in the newspaper. However, it was not a provincial newspaper (daily newspaper), but a commercial newspaper with the main purpose of entertaining the public, that is, the Far Eastern Evening News, which was funded by Yevgenia and controlled by the Kolas family.

Roland's observations and deeds as the son of a militia commander were not qualified to appear in high-end daily newspapers, and the administrative newspapers that were strictly censored by the Church did not dare to praise him. Rudolph sifted through his son's letters and sent them to Evgenia in the Castle of Atonement, who handed over the original material to Paul Pritt, the editor-in-chief of the evening newspaper, and edited it into a serialized newsletter that was published as an adventure gimmick, but in fact there was a lot of political intent hidden between the lines.

Although the circulation of the evening newspaper has long surpassed that of the Far Eastern Daily, this newspaper is still not popular in high society, and Yodel, as mayor, is so concerned about Roland's northward encounters, not necessarily because Roland is famous, nor necessarily because Mr. Mayor has good taste for the people, but mainly because of a political statement of goodwill to the Kolas family.

"It has been more than ten years since the empire issued a decree to force the purchase of rice from the Far East at a low price, and more than sixty percent of the rice in the Far East has been sold to the interior of the empire in recent years. Why is it that the average person still eats rye bread as a staple food? Inland dwellers hate rice so much that they would rather nibble on black bread mixed with sawdust than buy cheap rice to cook rice? Roland asked Yodel.

"It's not a matter of taste, in fact, there is hardly any Far Eastern rice for sale in the markets of the inland provinces, and even if there is the occasional rice on the shelves, the price is so high that ordinary people can't afford it." Yodel replied with a wry smile.

Roland stopped and looked back at him with curiosity: "This is strange, the imperial authorities bought a large amount of rice in the Far East but did not sell it in the market, is it all hoarded?" However, long-term storage of rice will inevitably age and deteriorate, and it can only be used to feed pigs, isn't it a waste? ”

Yodel looked behind him, and made sure that under the cover of the roar of the waterfall, the guards accompanying him in the distance could not hear what he was talking to Roland, turned his head to put away his smile, lowered his voice a little, and asked, "Have you ever heard of two decrees issued by the Imperial Government, the Grain Price Protection Act and the Imperial Preferential Act?" ”

"I have heard that the Corn Laws were a policy to protect the grain cultivation industry in the interior of the empire, raising tariffs on imported grain to ensure that domestic grain prices remained relatively high, and that it was protecting agriculture was actually protecting the nobility, landlords, and churches who possessed a large amount of arable land; As for ' Imperial preferential system', nominally means that the trade between the empire and its overseas colonies is exempt from customs duties and gives each other the most preferential price, on this basis, without the permission of the imperial government, the colonies are not allowed to trade with other countries, but in the specific implementation it is not as fair as it seems, the colonial authorities are directly under the leadership of the imperial central government, the status of the two sides is not equal, and the right to speak in trade negotiations is also very different, and finally it evolved into the imperial government completely monopolizing the trade channels of the colonies and forcibly purchasing grain from the colonies at very low prices, minerals, timber and other resources, and dumping commodities in the colonies at high prices, while prohibiting the colonies from participating in normal international trade, violators will be severely punished for smuggling. Roland replied calmly.