Chapter 1227: The Farm of Justice (26)

While the international situation was surging, leisurely days were always short-lived. When the seeds buried deep underground were quietly sprouting, Hal, wearing a pilot jacket, came to Kent Farm again.

Bruce opened the door. Seeing the expression on Hal's face, he knew that he must have brought good news.

As soon as Hal saw Bruce, he immediately walked up and shook hands with him vigorously, and then hugged him. Hal patted Bruce's arm forcefully and said: "Bruce, I really have to thank you this time."

"Come in. It seems you have good news to tell."

Hal was a bit hesitant. He looked inside, and Clark also welcomed him out. He reached out and opened the door a bit wider and said: "Spring plowing is nearing its end, and my parents have gone to town to return the rented equipment. Because there are too many trivial items to clear up, they will stay in town for three days. Now there are only a few of us here."

Hal dropped his gaze on Diana's face again. Bruce also turned back to look at Diana and said: "She is temporarily one of our own, or rather, she is also one of your own."

"You mean she..." Hal made a flying gesture with his hand. Bruce nodded and said: "You should not know, but Oliver must be clear. Amazon women all have special abilities. Diana participated in two world wars."

Hal was still a bit skeptical, but after a while, he still walked in and said: "Since it's your guarantee, then letting her join is nothing. Don't blame me for being too suspicious, after all, it's a major matter."

As soon as Hal entered the house, he smelled the fragrance of food. Clark pointed to the kitchen. Diana was washing her hands. Clark said: "There is only one person here who is not very good at cooking. I won't say, you should know."

Bruce rolled his eyes and sat down at the dining table. Hal raised his eyebrows in surprise and said: "You actually admitted it just like that. It seems that your mental illness has indeed improved a lot. If it were in the past, you would have learned a hundred and eighty dishes to prove that you are definitely not worse than them."

Soon, Diana walked out of the kitchen, put her hands on her hips, and said proudly: "I made two Amazon special dishes, which will definitely make your tongues fall off."

Clark, wearing gloves, brought out a bowl that looked like a basin, inside which was a whole fish. He put this dish down, clapped his hands, and said: "I don't know how this compares to Martha's secret grilled fish, but I think it's not bad."

"In your view, it should be incomparable. There is no dish in this world that can compare to the taste of Mom." Diana shrugged and smiled.

Hal looked at the basin of fish and froze. He subconsciously said: "Grilled first and then steamed, how is this a bit like my father's method of handling fish? Westerners generally don't do fish like this, right?"

Hal immediately picked up a fork. He stretched out a hand and said: "Sorry, I'll taste a bite first."

After speaking, he speared a piece of fish meat and sent it into his mouth. Diana frowned slightly, seemingly feeling that his action was a bit rude, but soon Hal showed a shocked expression, looked at Diana, and said: "Do you know a pilot named Steve Trevor?"

When hearing that name, Diana's face changed. After a while, she suddenly realized, looked at Hal up and down, and said: "What is your last name, Jordan? Are you Jordan's son or nephew?"

"If the Jordan you are talking about is Martin Jordan, then, yes, I am his son," Hal nodded and said.

Diana walked to the dining table anxiously and asked: "Is he okay?"

"He is very well. Except for being old and having some minor problems, everything is fine."

Looking at Clark's somewhat confused look, Hal opened his mouth to say: "My father was also a pilot. He once told me about things during World War II. At that time, he had a superior, who was also his comrade-in-arms, called Steve Trevor."

"Once, they encountered a major accident in the air, and it was Steve who saved him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have survived. However, later, they were transferred to different departments. My father used some methods, but he couldn't contact Steve. For so many years, he has always wanted to repay the life-saving grace."

"But unfortunately, he was just an ordinary pilot, had no room for promotion, and had no connections. During the war, everyone could only protect themselves. My father had no energy to look for him, but after the war, they were far apart, and he really couldn't contact him. He could only hold a group photo every day to miss his old comrade-in-arms."

After speaking, Hal looked at Diana's young and beautiful face again, touched his chin, and said: "Are you Steve's daughter? But you don't look like him. I've seen his photos. Or rather, are you some other relative of his?"

Diana lowered her head and took a deep breath, then shook her head lightly. Bruce pulled Hal's arm, and Hal still hadn't reacted.

"Is he okay?" Hal asked.

"He has passed away," Diana blinked lightly and said. Then her lips pursed into a line, she turned around and turned her back to the few people, and said in a somewhat complex tone: "That was a long time ago."

The atmosphere in the house became a bit silent. Just when Clark was about to speak, Hal grabbed the lead in front of him and said: "When my father missed Steve, he often said that he was a person with 'great love'. I don't quite understand what 'great love' is, but I know he was a good person."

"He saved my father actually at the risk of his life. This kindness, the Jordan family will never forget. No matter what, there will always be someone who remembers Steve Trevor."

Diana finally couldn't hold it anymore. Her eye sockets became a bit red. Clark walked up and hugged her, patting her back lightly.

After a while, this princess who was always strong finally recovered a bit. When everyone sat at the dining table again, the relationship between them was drawn closer. They not only shared secrets but also shared emotions, which confirmed to them that they were a group, and there were no outsiders here.

"I came this time to tell you a good piece of news. Although you should see it in the news in a few days, I still feel that I should tell you the results of Oliver's efforts for the first time."

Hal cleared his throat and said: "The battle in the west of Guadalajara in Jalisco was a complete victory. We occupied about 200 square miles of land in the Ameca River basin, repelled the drug cartel group that had been entrenched there, and completely took back more than 70,000 acres of high-quality arable land from their hands."

"How much?!" Clark was shocked and stood up from his chair.

"70,000 acres! High-quality arable land!"

Clark gasped. Diana looked at him and asked: "How big is Kent Farm?"

"About 3,000 acres."

Diana also gasped. Clark raised his voice and said: "Wait a moment, Hal, I have to confirm, it's high-quality arable land, not the total area, right?"

Hal nodded. Clark's eyes widened, and he said: "The 3,000 acres of Kent Farm include non-arable land areas such as forest land, water veins, roads, warehouses, etc., as well as large areas of housing land. Although Kent Farm is named a farm, we are actually a multi-industry complex of agriculture, animal husbandry, and forestry, not just arable land."

"And, not all arable land can be called high-quality arable land. According to the American large farm land standard, Kent Farm has at most 1,000 acres of high-quality arable land, and these high-quality arable lands still have 1/3 in rotation, which means that the actual output of high-quality arable land is only 700-plus acres."

Clark maintained a shocked expression and sat down slowly, saying: "And now, they possess 70,000 acres of high-quality arable land. Oh my god!"

Hal sighed and said: "But actually, this quantity is not much, and it can even be said to be a bit small, because the Ameca River basin is close to the mid-west of Mexico, and the agricultural conditions there are not as good as the northwest."

"Mexico has quite a lot of arable land, superior natural conditions, and many high-quality arable lands, but most of the high-quality arable lands are concentrated in the northwest adjacent to the United States. The terrain there is flat, the agricultural history is long, and large-scale mechanized agriculture is mostly carried out."

"That is to say, the place you occupied is not a plain?" Diana asked.

"No, the region we occupied is also a plain, and the water veins are rich, but the reason why that place has been occupied by drug cartel groups for a long time is also a historical legacy problem."

"Is it a problem with the Mexican government?" Clark frowned and asked.

Hal's face showed a crying-but-laughing expression. He scanned the few people and said: "You must think that the current bad situation in Mexico is all the government's fault, but in fact, it is not."

"You should know that Mexico's agriculture had a long period of glory and was called an example of agricultural development in third-world countries."

"In the 10s-20s, Mexico began large-scale land reform, confiscating all the land of large manor owners and large farm owners, and distributing it to farmers. At the same time, village cooperatives, also known as cooperative farms, were established in units of 20 households. Arable land was distributed to individuals, and other production land belonged to the collective."

"Starting from 1940, the Mexican government began large-scale development in the northwest, repairing water conservancy to solve the problem of irrigation conditions. The agricultural output in the northwest region rose rapidly, and the central and southern regions also benefited from various agricultural policy subsidies."

Clark widened his eyes slowly, but Diana, who was a history major, seemed to remember something and touched her chin and said: "I seem to remember, it really is like this. I remember learning about it when studying agricultural history. Mexico is one of the few countries in the world that has explored collective ownership."

"Since that's the case, how did they become like this now?" Clark asked.

"The problem lies in the process of industrialization," Hal took a deep breath and sighed again, saying: "The success in agriculture made the Mexican government feel that it could accelerate the pace of industrialization."

"Mexico wanted to transform into an industrialized country, but their method was wrong, the pace was too fast, and the previous agricultural reform didn't actually solve the fundamental problems. Developing to now, it has completely ossified."

"For the sake of the industrialization process, the Mexican government abandoned many agricultural policy inclinations. In less than 30 years, the proportion of agricultural output value in the gross production value dropped from about 15% to about 7%. This is a direct cut in half. What kind of disastrous consequences this will bring, there is no need to say more."

Clark opened his mouth. The expression on his face changed several times, seemingly feeling that this ending was a bit too absurd. But Bruce saw it more thoroughly and directly opened his mouth to say: "The wrong demonstration of the United States."

Bruce used a fork to spear a piece of fish meat and put it on the plate. While cutting, he said: "The whole world wants to reproduce the glory of the United States and wants to embark on a golden road, but there is no gold on this road, only sand in the mouth."

Hal nodded and said: "Copying mechanically won't work. The development route of complete industrialization is simply a waste of Mexico's superior natural conditions and a waste of the results of previous reforms and development."

"Overly hasty reform caused the masses to fall into chaos, not knowing whether they should stick to their good fields or follow the wave of industrialization. This chaos gave criminal industries an opportunity."

"But precisely because the transformation failed, internal contradictions were too sharp, and the economic crisis caused by wrong decisions broke out, the Mexican government had no ability to crack down on crime. Thus, this country slid step by step to today."

Diana sighed with some emotion: "We shouldn't deny the significance of exploration because of failure, and we shouldn't ignore the suffering of the people on this land because of this. Drug crime is the enemy of the whole world."

Hal nodded forcefully in agreement. He scanned the eyes of the few people again, pinched his fingers, and opened his mouth with some hesitation: "I have another task this time, which is to seek help from you. Oliver has encountered a problem that cannot be solved, and it is a big problem."

"What problem?"

"We don't know how to farm!"