In the Far East, the people of the Far East refer to the payment of agricultural taxes as "paying public grain", but in fact "public grain" is divided into two parts: requisitioning grain and purchasing grain.

"Levy grain" refers to the 20% agricultural tax, which is the state treasury grain levied by the government from the peasants free of charge, mainly to feed the army and administrative officials; In addition to the 20 percent agricultural tax, the state buys surplus grain from the peasants, and there is no certain standard for how much to buy, and the peasants can sell a little more of the surplus grain in their hands in exchange for cash to buy other commodities to improve their quality of life; if the year is not good, the surplus grain is limited, they can sell less or even no grain to the government.

There is nothing to say about "requisitioning grain," and although "buying grain" cannot force peasants to sell, the state can set a uniform price for grain purchases.

Roland consulted a large amount of information and drew up a uniform purchase price for wheat and rice. He himself had to admit that this price was obviously on the low side, and it had a strong monopolistic nature -- peasants could not sell grain to the state because the price was low, but they could not sell surplus grain to other grain merchants, otherwise both buyers and sellers would violate the law, and this was the so-called "grain unified purchase" policy; At the same time, Roland also drafted a supporting policy that the grain from the state treasury would be sold by state-designated grain stores at a specified price to urban residents who were not engaged in agricultural production, which was called "grain marketing."

What is the purpose of implementing the policy of "unified purchase and marketing of grain"? In his report to the Cabinet for consideration, Roland gave a frank, almost outrageous answer.

"The state legislation prohibits peasants from selling crops without permission, and the surplus grain is purchased by the state in a unified manner, and the purchase price is obviously much lower than the actual demand price in the market, and there is a considerable difference between the 'unified purchase price' and the 'unified sales price,' and this difference is the excess profits obtained by the state monopoly grain trade, which is a kind of compulsory capital accumulation."

"The state invests most of its excess profits from agriculture in industrial construction and infrastructure for the expansion of industrial scale; On the other hand, only by ensuring an adequate and cheap supply of crops can industrial costs be reduced, industrial goods can be competitive in the market, and capital will be stimulated to invest in industry and commerce – instead of buying land with a little spare money as in the traditional feudal economy, where capital is always in a state of inefficient allocation for a long time. ”

To put it bluntly, the "unified purchase and sales system" designed by Roland is to draw blood from agriculture to subsidize industry. This kind of policy is not uncommon in the world of Vares, and it is a classic case on the planet that has long been recorded in history and textbooks.

If this is the case, Roland's economic policy will not be more clever than the proposals of ministers such as Zinovi and Zahar, and it will inevitably run the risk of intensifying the contradictions between urban and rural areas and hurting the feelings of the peasants. If the peasant class were to be separated from the Kolas government, and the imperial army would go east in the future, the Kolas government would first lose the support of the vast countryside, and it would be almost impossible for the cities to resist the attack of the imperial army, and the regime would probably collapse quickly in the storm.

If the Kolas regime was to avoid becoming a short-lived dynasty in the pan, it could not be too the peasantry. Roland's system construction did not stop there, the difference between him and Zinovi and Zahar is that he will not let the peasants suffer in vain, in addition to the "unified purchase and sales", he also drafted a set of rural governance policies as compensation, with the aim of strengthening rural management and providing better welfare for farmers - from the cradle to the grave.

Rural life is not as rich and colorful as in the big cities, and the life of the peasants is stable and monotonous, lacking the opportunity to make a fortune, but it also avoids the risk of bankruptcy, and can ensure that there is no need for food and clothing, and the old age is dependent, and this kind of life is suitable for the risk-averse - and the peasant class has always been the typical risk-averse.

What do risk-averse people want? Is it that horses have no night grass and no fertilizer, and people have no windfall and no wealth?

In fact, instead of dreaming of making a windfall, risk-averse people are more eager to get a steady income from a long stream, which is to have enough food to satisfy their stomachs, clothing to cover their bodies, a fixed place to live, a little to rely on, and support for the elderly, and comprehensive coverage of social welfare such as public security, medical care and education.

When the cabinet ministers saw Roland's proposed rural welfare plan, they would find that the price to be paid for providing all the above-mentioned welfare guarantees for the vast number of villages was even greater than the profits intercepted by the "scissors difference", wouldn't this become a loss-making business?

Roland had a premonition that he would be reproached in this way, and then he analysed how the various rural benefits were realized, and the cost of doing so was much less than it might seem at first glance.

The first is rural infrastructure. To a large extent, the rural governance policy in the Far East continued the principle of "elder autonomy" of the empire, and the construction of large-scale farmland and water conservancy projects was of course funded by the state, but the elders (village heads) took the lead in apportioning the villagers for daily maintenance and minor repairs.

The second is rural cultural education and religious activities. In addition to providing a four-year basic education for the children in the village, Pastor Sindra is also responsible for running night schools to help adults become literate, explaining central government policies to villagers, and presiding over religious ceremonies such as weddings and funerals.

Health care is also a very important welfare indicator, and the resident priest is duty-bound, and the druids are also skilled in healing and can assist the pastor in health care.

Another important indicator of rural welfare is disaster prevention. It mainly refers to the fight against natural disasters such as floods, droughts, severe cold, and locusts that threaten agricultural production, which are the scope of the druid's work. In addition, the druids in the village also provided pesticide and fertilizer improvement technology, and used natural magic to promote a good harvest of farmland, which is also a major hidden welfare guarantee.

The village is nominally the responsibility of the village sheriff and his militia, but the priest and druid are also powerful and aggressive, and the two spellcasters are self-evident when the village is threatened by beasts or monsters.

It is not difficult to see that the role of the resident priest and the druid in the rural governance system designed by Roland is crucial, providing most of the cheap or even free benefits to the rural community. These two grassroots civil servants are so hardworking and conscientious, so how much salary does Roland have to pay to be worthy of the labor paid by others?

If the reward is calculated according to the laws of the market, frankly speaking, selling the entire village is not enough to pay for the priest and the druid.

However, the fact that the priest and the druid are paid a very small salary, which is not enough to repay them for their great contribution, and the pastor and the druid are happy to accept this kind of almost unpaid work, which obviously cannot be explained by the law of the market, but can only be attributed to a spirit of selfless dedication, and where is the driving force of this spirit?

It must come from some kind of feeling that is divorced from worldly desires or some kind of self-sacrificing "ism", no matter what its specific manifestation is, in Roland's view, it can be reduced to a kind of "faith dividend".