Which building did the Empress Dowager Cixi praise so much that she even wrote the inscription "The No. 1 Warehouse in the World"?

There is a saying in "Guanzi·Herdsmen": "If the warehouse is solid, you will know the etiquette; if you have enough food and clothing, you will know the honor and disgrace." It means that only when the country's granary is abundant can the people know etiquette, and only when the people have enough food and clothing can they realize honor, disgrace and self-respect. This sentence perfectly explains the importance of the actual and actual state's food reserves, how they can affect people's lives, and whether they are stable. Since grain reserves are the basis of a country's people's livelihood, the rise and fall of a dynasty are also closely related to it. Dynasties of all dynasties have followed this rule. In prosperous times, when the treasury is full and the people live and work in peace and contentment without picking up lost items, warehouses should be built to store grain to prepare for unforeseen needs in famine years.

With the massive outflow of silver in the late Qing Dynasty, the national treasury had reached the point where it could not make ends meet. In addition, there was no money to repair domestic granaries, resulting in a decrease in stored grain. This was undoubtedly very unfortunate for the Qing court. Good news. In order to solve this problem, Yan Jingming, who was the bachelor of Dongge University at the time, wrote to the Empress Dowager Cixi, requesting that a large granary be rebuilt to store food for emergencies in good years. Empress Dowager Cixi also believed that this matter was of great significance, so she approved the construction of a representative granary of the Qing Dynasty in Shaanxi by Yan Jingming.

After receiving the order, Yan Jingming returned to his hometown in Shaanxi to select a site, and finally decided to build the granary in Nanzhaizi Village, Chaoyi Town, 17 miles east of Dali County, Shaanxi Province. The construction of the granary began in the 8th year of Guangxu's reign and took four years to complete. Yan Jingming also named it "Fengtu Yicang". The design concept of "Fengtu Yigang" is simple but exquisite, and it has done a very good job in waterproofing and fireproofing the granary. "Fengtu Yicang" faces south, with a height of 14.89 meters, a width of 133 meters from east to west, and a length of 83 meters from north to south, with a total area of ??11,000 square meters. "Fengtu Yicang" is surrounded by four high walls. The top plane of the high-rise walls is paved with blue bricks. Its overall design is not flat, but a depression with high sides and a low middle. Once it rains heavily, no matter how heavy the rain is, the rainwater will flow along the terrain and collect in the middle.

Of course, the rainwater collected in the middle needs to be drained out. At the lowest point in the middle of the warehouse roof, there is a gutter that gradually slopes outward. All the rainwater collected due to the terrain will flow out along this gutter. In other words, there is no possibility of water accumulation on the top of the warehouse. This ingenious design avoids the problem of grain becoming damp and moldy due to water accumulation on the top of the warehouse. The design of the sink gutters was not done lightly. The twelve sink gutters extending from the roof of the warehouse are all extended into the courtyard by parapet guards to prevent the wall from corroding due to water seepage all year round. The designers of the project made full use of the principle of gravity for waterproofing, but the inclined gutter had a shortcoming. Because the falling point of the accumulated water is too high and the inclination angle of the gutter is not gentle enough, the bottom of the gutter may be violently washed away. In order to overcome this difficulty, the designer ingeniously used the "slow potential" method to design the water channel. The water channel is a gently inclined water groove. Through its slow potential, the accumulated water will flow smoothly into the courtyard. .

Under the terminal end of the water channel, there is also a giant tank placed to hold the accumulated water flowing out to prevent fire in the granary. The construction project of "Fengtu Yicang" was definitely one of the most generous in China at that time. The perfect waterproof design could even achieve the effect of "drying when the rain stops". Moreover, the accumulated water left behind could also prevent fires. It was simply killing two birds with one stone. Brilliant work. After the "Fengtu Yicang" was built, Yan Jingming immediately presented its design drawings to the Empress Dowager Cixi and hired a well-known photographer in Beijing to capture the entire "Fengtu Yicang".

When the Empress Dowager Cixi saw the design drawings and photos, she repeatedly praised his advanced and ingenious design concept and greatly rewarded Yan Jingming. In addition to being happy, the Empress Dowager Cixi enthusiastically inscribed "Fengtu Yicang" with the words "the best warehouse in the world" as a token of recognition and reward. Time has passed, more than a hundred years have passed, and the Qing Dynasty has become ashes in history, but this century-old granary is still intact. Surprisingly, it has become an "old antique" and has not "retired". It is still used as a grain reserve, with a reserve of 15 million kilograms of grain.

In June 2006, among the sixth batch of nationally protected cultural relics announced by the State Council, "Fengtu Yicang" also changed from a provincially protected cultural relic to a nationally protected cultural relic. This also represents the affirmation of the great historical value of "The First Warehouse in the World", and also shows that my country's protection of cultural relics has entered a new level.