Author: Potato Sweet Potato Pie

The Ming Dynasty's Age of Discovery was put on hold indefinitely.

Xia Yuan left the palace and returned home, thinking that in order to launch the Ming Dynasty's Age of Navigation, he began to lay the groundwork last year and sent merchant ships to Southeast Asia to search for sweet potatoes. After getting them back, he worked hard on the farm for several months.

It can be done right now, but who would have thought that in the end, it will be a situation that can be discussed later.

But we can only discuss it later, otherwise what else can we do?

Building a large-scale fleet would cost millions of dollars, and the national treasury had the same old problem as before - poverty.

As for Emperor Hongzhi's internal funds, even if the emperor was sold, he could not get them out.

Even if someone from Xia was generous and donated all his family's savings, it wouldn't be enough.

And spending hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to build a small fleet, no matter what name it is sailing under, an advance team, or a mission, there is no guarantee that the fleet will be safe, complete the mission, and return smoothly.

The king and his ministers in the DPRK cannot afford to gamble on this possibility.

The only good thing is that the so-called shelving by the monarch and his ministers in the DPRK is a real shelving, and the so-called "allowing for later discussion" is also a real "allowing for later discussion" and is not an excuse.

Emperor Hongzhi's 800,000 taels of silver have been allocated, and the shipbuilding work has been handed over to the shipyard in the eastern suburbs. In short, it will be built first, and as much as can be built, the rest will be slowly built little by little.

Come.

And doing this slowly is nothing more than saving money. As long as you have extra money, you can invest in the great cause of navigation.

With such a result, Xia Yuan comforted himself in his heart. It was not too bad. At least the Western expedition was inevitable. But he didn't know how long it would take to save up the money.

Xiajiazhuang became lively.

Although the voyage to the West was put on hold due to money issues, the construction of this stone square still had to be put on the agenda.

On that day, the Ministry of Works sent manpower to build the stone workshop. A minister personally led the team, along with the craftsmen from the Ministry of Works.

When Xia Yuan returned home, he called his wife, and the two left the capital. After traveling for a long time, the carriage finally arrived at the entrance of Xiajiazhuang Village.

Looking at the quiet and peaceful entrance to the village, without any human habitation, Xia Yuan sighed deeply.

There was no one in sight at the entrance of the village. The whole village, young and old, must have gone to watch the construction of their own archway.

Zhu Xiurong and Xia Yuan were riding in a carriage together. When the carriage entered the village, she opened the curtain and looked at the scenery outside, with happiness visible to the naked eye on her little face.

Xia Yuan chuckled and said: "So happy, the temptation to return to the village is right?"

"It's not temptation, it's happiness."

The ancestral hall was already full of people. When they saw the two people coming, a little kid immediately jumped over with a cheer and ran into Xia Yuan's arms. Xia Yuan took advantage of the situation and held him around for a few times, making Xia Chen giggle

happy.

Putting down the naughty kid, Xia Yuan winked at the little kid beside him, "Little kid, do you want to lift it up high and spin it in circles?"

Zhu Xiurong's face turned red, "Husband, please stop talking nonsense, there are so many people here."

"Then when we get back, we can lift it up secretly."

Today is the start of the stone workshop. For this matter, not only Xia Yuan and Xiaolizi came back, but also eunuchs came from the palace. In addition, there was also a Hanlin who led the emperor's order and came to read out an order.

It was a decree, and the content of the decree was nothing more than a loud boast.

Xia Yuan clasped his hands behind his back and watched the craftsmen digging a ditch at the entrance of the ancestral hall. The ditch was more than 20 meters long and was also three or four meters deep. From this ditch alone, he could know the height of the memorial arch to be erected this time.

.

In fact, the specifications are indeed very high. It is said that the stone archway to be erected will be of the seven-story style with four pillars, three bays and seven floors. It is an extremely high-standard archway. When the stone archway is completed, it will be fifteen or six meters high and about twenty meters wide.

rice.

Moreover, the whole body of this stone square must be made of blue granite. Of course, this is nonsense, even if it is a stone square, it must be made of rock.

When the time comes, we have to find suitable stones for mining in the mountains. When the granite is mined back, we still need to cut it, carve it, carve cloud patterns, carve tributes, carve plaques, and even carve seven verandas.

The eaves of the roof of the palace.

Just by thinking about it, you can tell that this is a big project.

It's really heartbreaking. I don't know how much money was wasted to build such a useless thing. I'm afraid a treasure ship would be caught in it.

Xia Yuan felt that building this thing was a waste of money, and it was better not to build it, but the other people around him did not think so. The villagers in Xiajiazhuang all looked at these craftsmen digging holes at the entrance of the ancestral hall, and they were so moved that they didn't know how to do it.

What expression.

The old patriarch Xia Youde was leaning on a crutch, his body was trembling, and his lips were trembling, "The ancestors are virtuous, the ancestors are virtuous."

This is a stone square, the lifelong pursuit of civil servants and military generals. There are not many people in the world who can find it, but they did not expect that it would be built at the entrance of the Xia family ancestral hall.

The spirits of the ancestors of the Xia family in heaven would be so happy if they knew that the descendants of the Xia family would get a stone square.

As he thought about it, the old patriarch shed tears, and at the same time, sobbing could be heard from the crowd.

Xia Yuan turned around and looked over, it was Xia Ru, "Uncle, are you crying so sadly?"

"Uncle is so happy, why is he sad? The ancestors have blessed you, your parents have blessed you, and now you have been given a title by the emperor and become a marquis. Not only that, the emperor actually wants to build a stone square for you. Uncle is really happy.

extremely"

Xia Yuan smacked his lips. He didn't know how to answer these words. He didn't understand it very well. It was just a marquis. But this stone square was, to put it bluntly, an archway. But just now, his uncle used the word unexpectedly. It felt like this.

Shifang is more embarrassing than having a title.

Moreover, we are crying even before the construction has started. When it is completed, I am afraid that we will cry to death.

Xia Yuan thought for a while, maybe the stone square could stand longer. Even if the Ming Dynasty died, the stone square would still stand here. Even if the dynasty changed, it would still stand.

Just like those stone archways of later generations, even in modern society and the 21st century, the archways of the ancestors and Li Chengliang still stand in place, silently telling the past glory and prosperity of the owner of the archway.

Great achievements.

Now the imperial court has set up an archway for itself, and in future generations, the still-standing archway will still have its own archway.

Thinking about it this way, Xia Yuan also became a little excited.

Participated in the start of the stone workshop, accepted the order, and only stayed in Zhuangzi for one night. Early the next morning, Xia Yuan returned to the capital with his wife.

At this time, something went wrong between the DPRK and China. The shipbuilding plans, nautical charts, and all navigational documents related to Zheng He's voyages to the West were all gone.

The archives were empty, not a single document or chart related to the voyage to the West.

In this regard, Emperor Hongzhi ordered people to conduct a strict search, but he did not believe that he could still disappear.
Chapter completed!