The Ming Age of Discovery was shelved indefinitely.

Xia Yuan went out of the palace and returned home, in order to start the Ming Dynasty's era of exploration, he began to warm up last year, sent merchant ships to Southeast Asia to search for sweet potatoes, and after getting back, he was busy with farm work for several months.

Seeing that it can be done, who would have thought that it would end up in the end, and it would be a situation that will be discussed later.

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

It costs millions of dollars to assemble a large fleet, and the treasury is guilty of the same old mistake - the tinkle of poverty.

As for Emperor Hongzhi's internal money, even if he sold the emperor, he couldn't take it out.

Even if he Xia donated generously and donated all the money in his family, it would not be enough.

And to form a small fleet with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, no matter what name it sets sail, the advance team, and the mission, this cannot guarantee the safety of this fleet, and cannot guarantee that it will be able to complete its mission and return smoothly.

The monarchs and ministers of the DPRK and China could not afford to gamble on this possibility.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the so-called shelving of the monarchs and ministers of the DPRK and the central government is a real shelving, and the so-called renegotiation is also a real renegotiation after tolerating, and it is not a pretext.

Emperor Hongzhi's 800,000 taels of silver have been allocated, and the shipbuilding business will be handed over to the shipyard in the eastern suburbs to do.

And this slowly, it is nothing more than saving silver, as long as you have the extra silver, you will devote yourself to the great cause of navigation.

With such a result, Xia Yuan comforted himself in his heart, it was not too bad, at least this trip to the West was inevitable, but when the silver was saved, I don't know when it will be.

Xiajiazhuang is lively.

Although the matter of going to the West was put on hold because of the problem of silver, the construction of this stone workshop had to be put on the agenda.

On the same day, the Ministry of Industry sent people to build the stone workshop, led by a squire himself, with the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry.

When Xia Yuan returned home, he called his daughter-in-law, and the two left Beijing, and after a half-day journey, the carriage finally arrived at the entrance of the village in Xiajiazhuang.

Looking at the quiet and peaceful entrance of the village, there was no human habitation, Xia Yuan sighed deeply.

There are no people at the entrance of the village, and the whole village is estimated to have gone to watch the construction of their own archway.

Zhu Xiurong and Xia Yuan sat in the carriage together, and when the carriage entered the village, she lifted the curtain and looked at the scenery outside, showing visible happiness on her little face.

Xia Yuan chuckled: "So happy, the temptation to go back to the village, right?" ”

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

Here in the ancestral hall, it was already full of people, and when they saw the two of them coming, a little cub immediately jumped over with a cheer and crashed into Xia Yuan's arms, Xia Yuan took advantage of the situation and turned around a few times, making Xia Chen happy.

Putting down the bear child, Xia Yuan winked at the little camelina next to him again, "Do you want the little camelina to be lifted high and circled?" ”

Zhu Xiurong's face turned red, "Husband, don't talk nonsense, there are so many people." ”

"Then when we go back, let's secretly raise it high."

Today is the start of the stone workshop, for this matter, not only Xia Yuan and Xiao Chuzi rushed back, but also came to the palace eunuchs, in addition, there is also a Hanlin led the emperor's order, specially came to read out a will, the content of the will is nothing more than a fierce boast.

Xia Yuan put his hands behind his back and watched those craftsmen digging a ditch at the entrance of the ancestral hall, a ditch more than twenty meters long, and a depth of three or four meters.

In fact, the specifications are indeed very high, it is said that the stone workshop to be erected is four pillars and three rooms and seven floors, it is a very high specification of the archway, after the stone square is really erected, it is 15 or 6 meters high, and there will be 20 meters wide.

And the whole body of this stone workshop must be made of cyan granite, of course, this is nonsense, that is, the stone workshop must be made of rock.

When the time comes, we have to go to the mountains to find suitable stone to mine, and when the granite is mined back, we have to cut it, and we have to carve it, and we have to carve out the moire, and we have to carve the praise text, we have to carve the plaque, and even the eaves of the seven palace roofs.

Just thinking about it knows it's a big project.

It's really heart-wrenching, and I don't know how much silver it costs to build such a useless thing, and I'm afraid that a treasure ship will be put into it.

Xia Yuan felt that it was a waste of silver to make this thing, and it was better not to make it, but the rest of the people around him would never think so, and the villagers of Xiajiazhuang all looked at these craftsmen digging a pit at the entrance of the ancestral hall, and they were moved and didn't know what to say.

The old patriarch Xia Youde was on crutches, his body trembled, and his lips trembled, "The ancestors are virtuous, the ancestors are virtuous"

This is Shifang, the lifelong supreme pursuit of Wenchen military generals, and I can't find a few people in the whole world, but I didn't expect to set up one at the door of the Xia family ancestral hall.

The spirits of the ancestors of the Xia family in the sky, if they learned that the descendants of the Xia family had obtained a stone workshop, I don't know how happy they would be.

Thinking about it, the old patriarch's tears flowed, and whimpering and crying sounded in the crowd at the same time.

Xia Yuan turned his head to look over, it was Xia Ru, "Uncle, are you crying so sadly?" ”

"Uncle is happy, where is the sadness, the ancestors bless, your father blesses, now you have been knighted by the Son of Heaven and become the Marquis, not only that, the Son of Heaven actually wants to give you the Standing Stone Workshop, my uncle is really happy in his heart"

Xia Yuan smacked his lips, he didn't know how to answer this, he didn't understand it very well, and the marquis was fine, but this stone workshop, to put it bluntly, is an archway, but just now my uncle used these two words, I feel that there is such a stone workshop, which is more face-raising than having a title.

And this has not started to be built, I am already crying, and when it is completed, I am afraid that I will have to cry to death.

Xia Yuan thought about it, maybe the stone workshop could stand longer, even if the Ming Dynasty died, this stone workshop would still stand here, even if the dynasty changed, it would still stand.

Just like those stone memorial arches of later generations, even if they have reached the modern society, they have entered the 21st century, the ancestral birthday, that Li Chengliang's memorial arch does not still stand in place, silently telling the glory of the owner of the memorial arch, the great achievements of the past.

Now the imperial court has set up a memorial arch for itself, and when it comes to later generations, the memorial arch that is still standing will have its own one.

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

Participated in the start of the stone workshop, received the grace, only stayed in the Zhuangzi for one night, and the next morning, Xia Yuan returned to Beijing with his daughter-in-law.

At this time, there was also an accident in the DPRK and China, and Zheng He's shipbuilding charts, nautical charts, and all the materials about navigation were gone.

In the archives, there is nothing to be done, not a single document or chart about going to the West.

In this regard, Emperor Hongzhi ordered people to search for it strictly, and he didn't believe that he could still disappear.

(End of chapter)