บท 1848: Chapter 1250: Farm of Justice (32)_1
The group didn't marvel for too long, they all knew they were here to solve problems. While touring the village, Clark was the first to bring up:
"When they were going out to sow, I didn't see any heavy machinery. Of course, I do know that large-scale mechanized agriculture in Mexico is concentrated in the northwest, and the agricultural conditions in other places are relatively backward. However, even if there is not a large-scale mechanized device, there should at least be machinery to help with farming right? Don't they at least have a tractor?"
Oliver crossed his arms, sighed, and said: "Actually there were originally two, and they were very old tractors, purchased by the village community and rented to individuals for use. But ever since the drug lord took control of the land and started planting opium poppies, there's been no one to maintain the tractors, and they have completely broken down."
"So everyone is farming with the most primitive methods now?" Diana asked.
"Not exactly, there are some large tools." Having said this, Oliver led the group to a warehouse at the side of the village. This warehouse was the only fairly impressive architecture in the village and it was storing seeds and fodder.
Upon entering, Clark saw a familiar machine. It was a small farming machine. Despite looking a bit rusty, it was still intact and useable.
Clark stepped forward to inspect the machine. As soon as he approached it, he noticed something odd; a few ropes were tied to the connecting part of the farming machine, with some belts hanging at the front of the ropes.
Clark's eyes slowly widened as he pointed at the farming machine and said, "Please tell me you guys aren't using cattle to pull this thing?"
"How could we?" Oliver shrugged. As Clark began to breathe a sigh of relief, Oliver then said, "Sometimes, we use horses."
Clark simply didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "Even if indeed we need beast power for farming here, this machine should be hung on a tractor. The depth and thickness of the blades are only suitable for high-powered tractors. Pulling it with humans or cattle cannot turn the land to the required depth."
Oliver walked over in surprise, looking at Clark, and asked, "You mean, what pulls this thing actually makes a difference?"
"Of course, this thing was originally designed for tractors. Using cattle or horses to pull it, first, the direction of exertion is wrong. Second, the force isn't sufficient."
Clark gave a rueful smile and explained, "When a tractor connects to the farming machine, the angle of connection can be adjusted. When plowing, the tractor can control the lifting or lowering of the farming machine through the parts of the connection point."
"If you want to plow deeper, then let the angle turn this way." Clark straightened his arms and showed the angle of the farming machine. He continued, "Even if you use animals to pull, the rope is too long. This would make the angle too flat, and the blades cannot enter the soil. They can only scrape the surface lightly."
"If you just scatter the seeds in this way, it's equivalent to leaving the seeds out in the sun to dry. The seeds can't absorb the nutrients or water, they would dry out quickly, and the germination rate would be very low, hence, a poor yield."
Oliver held his forehead and said, "These machines were purchased along with the tractors. The engine of the tractor broke down, and the locals didn't know how to fix it. They figured these machines that don't require an engine, can be pulled by anything. So they switched to using cows and horses and even people."
"I can't blame the locals then." Diana said, "The first time I saw this thing, I also didn't know the ins and outs of it. I didn't even know you could adjust its angle just by sitting on the tractor. I thought you had to actually get off and turn parts."
"I think we should at least have a tractor." Bruce said, "Can you take me to see those two broken-down tractors?"
"You plan on fixing them?" Oliver said, leaning against the side of the farming machine. He sighed, shook his head, and said, "I believe you could possibly fix them, but the problem is, just having two tractors isn't really helpful."
It seemed as though Clark suddenly remembered something, "Oh, right, I forgot to ask, how large is the experimental field you stipulated? How many fields need to be sown?"
"This is just experimental farming. I was afraid I couldn't handle it if we went too big, so I first designated 3000 acres."
Clark gasped, he stared at Oliver and said, "Are you insane? Do you know how large 3000 acres of pure land is? That's over 1000 hectares!"
"But, we have a total of 70,000 acres of land," Oliver said seriously looking at Clark, "If possible, I would love all 70,000 acres of land sowed with crops this year. But knowing it's impossible, I took a step back, planning to start with a small plot of land for trial."
Clark's expression gradually turned grave. Diana wasn't quite familiar with this field, so she walked over and asked Clark, "What's wrong? Is it very difficult?"
"It's no longer difficult, it's almost impossible." Clark shook his head and said, "Unless we use our special abilities to finish the ploughing in a few days and then I fly to scatter the seeds, it's nearly impossible to complete the spring ploughing in such a short time with such primitive methods."
Clark snorted, and then peered out of the door to check the position of the sun, saying, "This place is in a tropical climate, the rainy season will soon be upon us, and once the first rain starts, the seeds almost have no chance to land. We must race against time."
Oliver quickly walked to the door, held Clark's arm and asked, "In your opinion, within our ability— I mean, within the capability of Mexican farmers, what's the suitable size for a piece of land?"
Before Clark even had a chance to answer, Bruce walked over to Oliver's side and said, "I think you are thinking about it wrong."
"I understand, you mean 'give a man a fish,' it's meaningless for the three of them to use their superpowers to finish cultivating the land because the locals in Mexico do not have superpowers, and they cannot guard here and do the farming every year."
"But, not using superpowers does not mean you have to do it completely by yourselves. Now, time is tight, the task is heavy, the starting point is low, but you still want good results. It's impossible without external help in this case. You need a batch of start-up materials. Even if these materials are not available every year, as long as the hardship of the first year has been resolved, being self-sufficient will become much easier."
Oliver slapped his forehead and said, "That makes sense. I was just too anxious. I want them to quickly master the method of good farming. But if even the teaching aids are not there, the haste is no use."
In the dim room, Oliver saw a light known as wisdom in Bruce's eyes, he unconsciously found himself drawn to Bruce's blue eyes, then heard Bruce ask:
"Where are the people who helped you before?"
"They said they're waiting for my message... Do you mean, get them to provide us with the startup funds?"
"Correct." Bruce turned his head and said to Hal: "Remember what I said earlier? This is a good opportunity to test their abilities and true intentions."
"So, what do we need? Tractors?" Hal asked.
"No, we need engines."
Inside the office at the top of the Wayne building, Thomas frowned while holding a report, murmuring: "...Engines?"
"Yes, that's exactly what they asked for." The male manager across him also frowned, "Not weapons, not food, not even vehicles, they want engines, and they specifically asked for high-powered engines."
"What are they trying to do?" Thomas said quietly, he wasn't asking a question, but sorting out his own thoughts.
"They should know that we can't provide them with military engines. Therefore, in the civilian market, the biggest application of engines is in vehicles. But if they need transportation, they could just ask for money to buy vehicles, even some special vehicles, they should request the vehicles themselves, not engines."
"If they got the engines, a place like Mexico would not have the resources to manufacture other parts of the vehicles for them, their industrial development is incomplete, with no capacities to produce and manufacture other parts of vehicles."
"What about disassembling the engine, cracking the technology and producing it themselves?" The female president asked.
But soon, she realized she'd made a stupid statement, laughed awkwardly and said: "If they had that ability, they wouldn't need our weapon support."
The male manager shook his head and said: "You might not know much about this. Having the technical know-how is not enough, what about materials? Manufacturing process? Production line?"
"All the engines of the world can be taken off, but have you seen any small country bring out a car identical to those of the big manufacturers out of nowhere? The production line is the key problem."
Exhaling, Thomas said: "If they wanted to crack the engine, they should directly ask for the technology. If they wanted to utilize the engine, they should directly ask for the finished product. Unless, the engine is not the key, but just a sign."
"You mean..."
"What kind of engine we give them represents our capacity and attitude."
Leaning back on the couch, Thomas rested his hand on the back of the couch and said: "If the engine we give them is not powerful enough, it shows our concern about them having excessive force. If we give them branded engines, it shows that our corporation lacks industrial production capabilities or doesn't value them at all."
Thomas narrowed his eyes slowly and said: "It seems, this time, we are dealing with a clever person."
On the third day since they sent out the request for help, Oliver received a number of responses, asking him to go to the previous trading spot to collect the goods. Hal flew over and brought everything back using his Green Lantern energy.
Each company sent more than one engine, but to make it easier for Bruce to distinguish them, Hal laid out one of each on the warehouse floor.
Bruce instantly recognized many branded engines, even without the labels, he could roughly guess which one was from which company. Some were from America, others from Europe.
Bruce gave them a quick look, then asked Hal to put these engines away leaving a few distinctive ones.
First, he looked at a grey engine, its size was not large, its power was high but not overly huge. Importantly, this thing was directly compatible with tractors, it could arguably be used immediately, while all the other engines were more compatible with regular vehicles.
"It seems we've met an astute person," Bruce commented, "They've deduced where we want to use the engine, they've seen Oliver as a good person who genuinely wants to help the farmers, and they've expressed certain support through this engine."
He turned to Oliver and said, "Good news, we will have relatively reliable ally."
Next, Bruce directed his gaze towards the most eye-catching giant box in the room, which was about seven to eight times bigger than the previous engine and nearly reached the ceiling of the warehouse.
Clark flew up to unpack the box, and the moment Bruce saw the machine, he stood stunned for a while.
It can also be considered an engine, but Bruce knew another name of it—Ark Reactor.
His mind raced, and in an instant, he uttered a name: "...Luther."
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