Samuel Wright was a man of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, this pagoda still stood, towering on the banks of the Yangtze River, visible to all passing ships. If it still existed today, it would undoubtedly be one of the most important tourist attractions in the country. Unfortunately, this "Number One Pagoda Under Heaven," one of the seven medieval wonders of the world alongside the Great Wall, the Roman Colosseum, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion. In 1856, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's North King, Andrew Harris, worried that the Wing King, Charles Morgan, would seize the glazed pagoda outside the city, set up cannons to attack from within, ordered soldiers to dig tunnels under the pagoda to detonate explosives, and simultaneously bombarded the pagoda with artillery. In the end, the glazed pagoda was reduced to a pile of rubble, and the other buildings of the Grand Bao'en Temple were all burned down in the ensuing fire.

　　However, although the pagoda was destroyed, some things were still preserved, including some blue-and-white floor tiles that ended up scattered among the people.

　　Using blue-and-white porcelain for floor tiles—such extravagance was unprecedented. Throughout history, only the Yongle Emperor dared to do such a thing.

　　This was also a display of the Yongle Emperor's grandeur!

　　For a long time, these blue-and-white floor tiles were unknown to the public. When ordinary people saw these tiles, their first reaction was to mistake them for broken pieces, as if the center of a plate had been cut out. This was because the pattern on any single tile was incomplete; only when several tiles were joined together could the full design be seen.

　　This is also why Brian Carter initially mistook the porcelain tile in his hand for a broken piece. In fact, at first, someone even made a big blunder by piecing it together with other porcelain to form a plate.

　　But after noticing the suspicious points, Brian Carter suddenly realized he might have guessed wrong—this was not a broken piece, but a complete porcelain tile from the Number One Pagoda Under Heaven.

　　He had seen pictures of these tiles online before, but just now it hadn't come to mind. Now, recalling these things, Brian Carter began to try to remember the images of those tiles, and then compared them one by one with the porcelain plate in his hand. To his delight, he discovered that the bottom of the plate in his hand was definitely the same type of object as the real blue-and-white floor tiles—extremely similar and closely matched.

　　This was what truly excited him.

　　"Blue-and-white floor tile? Is this really a blue-and-white floor tile from the Number One Pagoda Under Heaven? And it looks complete. If that's true, then it has very high collectible value."

　　Back then, the entire Bao'en Temple pagoda couldn't have had only one floor tile, but since the pagoda was destroyed, only a very few could have made their way into private hands. Just for this reason alone, this tile is a treasure.

　　Of course, this is far from being a national treasure. According to historical records, the glazed tiles, glazed components, and white porcelain tiles made for the construction of the pagoda were all produced in triplicate: one set was used for the pagoda, and the other two sets were numbered and buried underground, to be used for repairs in case of damage, with the numbers reported to the Ministry of Works for matching parts. Although the Taiping Rebellion destroyed the completed pagoda, in 1958, a large number of glazed components with inked serial numbers were unearthed near the original site of the Bao'en Temple pagoda, and are now housed in the National Museum of China, the Nanjing Museum, and the Nanjing Municipal Museum.

　　With so many pieces, the price inevitably drops, but most of them are kept in museums. For individual collectors, being able to own such an item is still extremely exciting, and Brian Carter was no exception. Not to mention, knowing that this might be a complete porcelain piece made it even more beneficial for him to let the Yellow Leather Book absorb [cultural energy].

　　Who could say that a complete blue-and-white porcelain tile from the Number One Pagoda Under Heaven doesn't embody the crystallization of human culture and art?

Chapter 009: You've Made a Mistake

　　After recalling all this knowledge in such a short time and re-examining the porcelain plate in his hand, it was only when Brian Carter had completely calmed down that he was shocked to realize that a long time had already passed.

　　He took out his phone and saw that the time limit for the [Seeking Culture Talisman] was almost up—only a minute or two left.

　　After all, the previous examination had been painstaking and meticulous work.

　　This made him smile wryly. It seemed that if he wanted to reach any conclusion today, he would have to buy this plate.

　　The next moment, he finally looked up at the stall owner. "Boss, how much is this plate?"

　　When Brian Carter looked up, the stall owner immediately put on a simple, honest smile, but his face was also full of nervousness as he said, "Brother, do you really want this plate? To tell you the truth, this is the most precious thing on my stall. If you don't want to buy it, just put it down after looking at it. If it gets chipped or damaged, that wouldn't be good."

　　The stall owner wasn't stupid. Seeing Brian Carter fiddling with the plate for ten or twenty minutes, how could he let the opportunity slip by?

　　Brian Carter was momentarily speechless. The other man's honest face was tinged with nervousness and even a bit of wariness. To someone who didn't know better, it really looked like an honest man worried about his treasure being damaged.

　　But he wasn't moved. Anyone who truly believed such an expression would be the real fool. If this plate was really his treasure, he should have removed the rim and revealed the porcelain tile's true form.

　　However, Brian Carter still smiled and said, a bit speechlessly, "Your plate's shape is authentic Ming Yongle blue-and-white, but bowls and plates from the Yongle period have a concave center and a sunken base. Why is your plate flat-bottomed? That's a bit odd!"

　　With that one sentence, the man who had been boasting nonsense was instantly dumbfounded—a real expert!