The reason for confirming the identity of the Buddha statue was quite simple. There were enough photos taken when the statue was destroyed, and the Buddha within it was the focal point, making it easy to match and identify. Moreover, this Buddha statue was part of the long-lost bronze hall, so it was hoped that by examining this statue, clues about the missing bronze hall might be found.
However, clues were one thing, but whether or not the hall could be located required further research. Just having this bronze statue alone wouldn’t suffice, even if cards were used to track it down, as time and other factors were difficult to determine. Tracing it back would most likely lead to China.
Fortunately, Liang En had made the necessary preparations beforehand. As the vehicle moved, they soon arrived at an abandoned farm on the outskirts of the city, where they moved the Buddha statue into the barn.
This farm had been rented in advance by Elizabeth, with a year-long lease to be used for their upcoming operations. For Liang En's convenience, the farm was equipped with a series of tools for artifact cleaning and maintenance.
Due to the urgency at the time, most of these tools were standard second-hand items, purchased directly from a defunct antique shop. Fortunately, despite being second-hand, the quality was decent.
More importantly, Liang En usually preferred to use cards for repairs, so these tools were merely a cover and would likely not be needed.
After the workers who had helped left, Liang En began to examine the Buddha statue he had acquired. It wasn’t long before he discovered some welding marks at the base of the lotus pedestal.
"Did you find something wrong?" Jeanne asked curiously, watching Liang En as he carefully inspected the lotus base of the Buddha statue. "Did you see some unusual marks?"
"Yes, there are indeed some abnormal marks." Liang En nodded, pointing to the welding marks he had just been examining. "These welding marks are problematic."
"Problematic?" Jeanne stepped forward to take a closer look and then frowned. "Isn't this the kind of mark left by the ancient welding technique you told me about? It's not electric welding; it should be fine."
"No, no, it's not just electric welding that's problematic," Liang En pointed to the base. "In China, such large Buddha statues are usually hollow, and there is often a hole at the bottom. But there’s no precedent for sealing the bottom with a copper plate."
Although many today associate welding with electric welding, a very modern technology, this isn't entirely accurate. In China, for example, local welding techniques were invented around the late Western Zhou period and widely used during the Warring States period.
Before the Spring and Autumn period, lead-tin soldering was primarily used. Copper welding was invented in the early Warring States period, and records of silver soldering first appeared during the Ming Dynasty. Mercury amalgam welding was recorded even later, but the discovery of artifacts suggests that this technique was invented earlier than those records indicate.
In ancient Chinese welding, fluxes such as borax were commonly used, as well as sal ammoniac. There were three main welding techniques: high-temperature pouring welds, high-temperature spot welds, and mercury amalgam adhesion.
In the Ming Dynasty, Song Yingxing's *Tiangong Kaiwu* (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature) stated in volume ten, "Hammering and Forging: Treating Copper": "Using tin powder for small welds, and using sounding copper powder for large welds (Note: copper powder is made by crushing copper, mixing it with rice, washing away the rice to leave the copper powder. Otherwise, it will scatter). For welding silver objects, use red copper powder."
This "sounding copper" refers to the copper used for making sound-producing instruments, that is, high-tin bronze. Small welds using tin powder are roughly equivalent to today's soft soldering, with relatively low strength; large welds using sounding copper powder are similar to modern hard soldering with copper, providing somewhat higher strength.
The technique used on this Buddha statue was precisely this type of "large weld" with sounding copper powder. Because copper was used as the welding material, it was almost impossible to tell that a copper plate had been used to seal the bottom.
Liang En discovered this because he realized the weight didn’t match that of a solid statue after touching it. Upon further inspection, he found the problem at the bottom of the statue and used his extraordinary powers to uncover the internal structure.
As expected, the copper plate wasn’t just there for no reason. It was used to hide some information within the statue, as he found some engraved marks on the inner wall.
The hollow inside was filled with a large amount of organic material, and since Liang En had never encountered these substances before, he couldn’t determine what had been stuffed inside.
Fortunately for Liang En, the next task was something he was quite skilled at: extracting the contents without damaging anything inside.
This was why he had sent everyone except Jeanne away. After all, it was best not to let outsiders see the use of supernatural powers.
As the power of legend was activated, the welding material used to connect the base to the upper bronze body of the statue gradually melted and flowed to one side. Soon, the entire bottom fell off.
"This doesn't look like something made after World War II," Jeanne remarked, examining the now-brownish copper base. "This seems like something old."
After speaking, Jeanne bent her left index finger and knocked on the copper base. A crisp sound echoed from the base.
"You’re right; this is indeed an old piece." Hearing the clear sound, Liang En, who had been drawn over, picked up the copper plate and began to inspect it closely.
As expected, this wasn’t an ordinary piece of copper. It was a piece of high-tin bronze. Normally, this type of bronze composition was used for making musical instruments, not common bronze artifacts.
Upon closer examination, Liang En realized that this material likely came from an ancient bronze gong that had been deliberately cut and welded to the bottom of the Buddha statue.
It must be said that this was a highly skilled approach. Even the previous antique shop hadn’t noticed anything amiss and had subconsciously assumed the bottom cover and the statue were a single entity.
This explained why no one had ever discovered the secret here. Of course, the reason the antique shop made the mistake was purely because they lacked understanding of Eastern artifacts.
For Americans, European artifacts are of prime importance, and they often collect them to flaunt their status and wealth.
If they couldn’t find European artifacts, American domestic artifacts were also acceptable. Even items like Coca-Cola cans and bottles, which foreigners might consider worthless, could fetch hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
As for Chinese artifacts, though they might sell for high prices in some places, they were mainly treated as financial investments or speculative assets. There were only a few who truly appreciated Chinese culture.
Therefore, many local antique shops had little knowledge of non-local, non-European artifacts, and some didn’t even know much about Eastern European items.
In a way, this also reflected a particular kind of arrogance among Anglo-Saxons. They claimed the culture of ancient Greece and Rome as their own, while demeaning other civilizations when promoting those connected to them.
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