At present, the major newspapers and periodicals in the country are vigorously publicizing Yodel Stolypin, a positive example who understands the righteousness, but it is far from enough to have only one model, and with the advancement of land reform, the intensity of propaganda will also increase day by day, and the typical figures from all parts of the country and all walks of life will be continuously introduced, mainly positive examples, and at the same time, it is not excluded that a few negative examples will be selected to be published in the newspapers.

The combination of grace and power is the basic principle of political mechanics. Only by harshly striking at negative examples to set an example can we reflect the value of positive energy, after all, there is no gap without comparison.

On the other hand, Roland's previous proposal to reduce agricultural taxes has already passed the cabinet's deliberations, but it has not been publicly promulgated for a long time, waiting for such a timely time.

Roland vaguely remembers that there is a famous behavioral economist on the earth, Richard Thaler, who found a rule in his long-term research, that is, the so-called "Four Principles of Happiness and Pain": multiple good news should be released separately; Multiple pieces of bad news to be released together; A big piece of bad news and a small piece of good news to be announced separately; A big piece of good news is to be announced along with a small piece of bad news.

Roland has long been unable to remember the process of demonstrating the above principles, but from personal experience, he believes that these four principles have a certain truth, and the reason why he deliberately delayed the news of agricultural tax cuts and did not publish them is invisibly in line with Richard Thaler's theory.

When the Cabinet passed the tax cuts, which coincided with the height of the pilgrimage to Krasbourg and the high level of favorability for the new government, the announcement of the tax cuts was nothing more than icing on the cake, and the marginal benefits were negligible, so it was wise to postpone the announcement of the tax cuts – as the saying goes, "multiple pieces of good news should be announced separately".

Today's situation is completely different. After the arrival of winter, due to the inconvenience of transportation in the Far East due to the weather, the pilgrimage movement turned into a low ebb, the people's enthusiasm for the new government also passed, and the introduction of land reform, a policy that was widely questioned by the peasants, the favorability of the rural residents to the Kolas government dropped significantly compared with the previous year. The publication of the good news of the halving of the agricultural tax under these circumstances will undoubtedly inject a shot of stimulant into the peasant strata of the Far East and dispel the disillusionment of the people with the new government – which is in line with the principle of "one big good news and a small bad news at the same time".

This psychological strategy has proven to work. Roland and Yodel spent a month in the countryside, either by airship or by teleport, and focused on visiting rural farmers. On average, I run three villages a day, and a total of 100 villages in a month, all over the Far East.

At the beginning of the trip, the news of the land reform had spread throughout the country, but the propaganda of tax reduction had not yet been carried out, and the villages visited were not less under the eyes of the farmers, and the previous unpleasant conversation took place at this stage. By the end of January, the policy of halving the agricultural tax rate had begun to be promoted, and it was conveyed through newspapers in towns and cities to villages where information was relatively isolated. At this time, Roland and Yodel visited the countryside again, and they clearly felt that the attitude of the peasants had improved: on the one hand, they still did not understand and did not like the policy of nationalizing wasteland, and on the other hand, they were grateful to the government for drastic cuts in agricultural taxes.

"Don't worry, fellow countrymen, the government won't let you suffer, otherwise why cut half of the agricultural tax?"

"Think about it, old man, how could there have been such a low land endowment in the Far East during the reign of the empire in the past? Whether the new government has treated the peasant brothers badly or not, everyone has a scale in their hearts......"

Roland and Yodel said something like this many times during their trip to the countryside, supported by the tax reduction policy, which was confident and could win the approval of the vast majority of farmers. On the 12th of February, the Dawn airship returned to Colasbourg with the village expedition team, and Roland did not change much, but Mr. Joddle was very thin, wearing a sheepskin hat and a dirty cotton robe, like an old farmer who went to the city to sell vegetables.

The Minister of Agriculture looked much haggard and haggard after a month of running around in the morning, but his spirits were unusually high, and he wrote the airship, ignoring the turbulence of the airship, and completed a detailed report on the village investigation of more than 400 pages.

Roland considered the report to be of scholarly value and was too wasteful to be a mere document for the Cabinet meeting, and decided to sponsor the publication under the name of the "Koras Family Fund", only to the disdain of Mr. Yodle's boss.

"How much does it cost to publish a book? I'm not short of money! ”

Roland smiled and explained to him that academic works published under the auspices of the foundation could be subject to preferential policies such as tax reductions, and that the Minister of Agriculture had to pay for the publication of such a weighty work, which was not only suspected of being high-minded, but also seemed that the academic community in the Far East was a desert and lacked soil to support academic research. The Foundation sponsored the publication, Yodel had a bright face, and Roland could also have a good reputation for encouraging academic research, which was a double win.

Sensing that Yodel was still hesitating, Roland finally resorted to a killer move: "If you agree to have the Foundation act as an agent for the copyright, I ask Mr. Liszt Keynes to write the foreword to your magnum opus." ”

Yodel's eyes lit up: "Is that the famous economist Liszt Keynes?" ”

Roland smiled.

"That's good! This book is for you! The Minister of Agriculture happily handed over his hard work.

On the morning of 13 February, Roland and Yodel jointly submitted a report to the Cabinet on the village survey. In order to save the time of His Majesty the King and his cabinet members, a "dehydrated" version of the outline was attached to the report.

His Majesty Rudolph praised this expedition into the countryside and noted the remarkable role of public opinion propaganda and the tax reduction policy in bringing about a change in the attitude of the peasants. This subtle and general change in attitude validates the point made by Roland in a private discussion with him about land reform a month ago: conservative-minded rural people are more concerned about tangible and tangible benefits than long-term benefits. By announcing tax cuts at the same time as the agrarian reform, the Kolas government was in effect making a deal with the peasants in exchange for immediate benefits (tax cuts) in exchange for concessions on long-term benefits (nationalization of natural resources).

If in the long run, it is clear that this deal is more beneficial for the ruling authorities. But in an environment where international public opinion generally believed that the Kolas regime would collapse before the end of 1621, how many country farmers cared about any illusory "long-term interests"?