Chapter 491: Breaking Out of Asia.
Thinking of Liang Wu, Li Yuanhui found this person quite interesting.

He was originally a fisherman, but during the Tiansheng period of Dayan, he started to rob houses because of the court's heavy taxation.

This man gathered a group of fellow villagers and specialized in robbing the imperial court's grain transport ships. They roamed the Juye Lake, the Bian River, the Yellow River, the Weishan Lake, the Dushan Lake and many other waters, appearing and disappearing as if they were ghosts, coming and going freely.

However, every time he led his troops, he would intercept the last few grain ships of the fleet and never be greedy for more, which made the Yan army navy at that time unwilling to go to the trouble to suppress him.

The time when he really became famous was when he joined forces with the Wagang Army to ambush the emperor's dragon boat.

Liang Wu, who had previously been unwilling to fight against the court army, took out all his family assets and joined Wagang in attacking the emperor's fleet, burning the dragon boat that Murong Ying was riding on. This indirectly caused Murong Ying, who was still seriously ill, to catch a cold again, and eventually he died.

After Murong Chao became emperor, before he had time to send troops to wipe out Wagang and Liangwu and avenge his father, his younger brother, Prince of Liang Murong Zan, rebelled.

Later, the world was in chaos and no one cared about this water pirate.

It was not until the Tang Dynasty stabilized the Central Plains and began to reduce taxes and levies, suppress bandits and pacify the people that Liang Wu went alone to seek an audience with Chai Rong, the then governor of Yanzhou and the imperial son-in-law. He asked Chai Rong to give him some land, and he would cultivate it with his men. If the Tang Dynasty could accommodate him, he would make a living by fishing and farming, and would no longer plunder.

When Chai Rong was young, he was a famous hero in Chang'an who was eager to help others and was righteous. He learned that Liang Wu had no bad deeds except attacking the fleet of the previous dynasty, and that his followers were all from poor families and that they gathered together to become bandits just to make a living.

The fact that he asked for an audience alone showed his extraordinary courage, so Chai Rong directly allocated a lot of idle land near Juye Lake to him.

However, he required all the people to be registered as households and exempt their tribes from taxes for three years.

Liang Wu really took his people to the land to cultivate the land. Although he still kept his fleet and sailed across the rivers, he only fished, ferryed and transported goods. He even helped the government transport grain and grass.

Later, when Li Xuandao took office in Yanzhou, he saw that Liang Wu and his men were still living a peaceful life and no longer banditrous, so he continued the conditions that Chai Rong had given to Liang Wu before, and also granted him the title of Liyi Cavalry Captain and let him lead a team to dredge the waterway.

During the military meeting, Murong Sanzang proposed this candidate, who was immediately recognized by Li Yuanhui. Li Yuanhui immediately ordered Li Chunfeng, the secretary of the army, to draft a military order, conferring the title of General Liyi on Liang Wu, and asked Murong Sanzang to summon him to meet him.

Murong Sanzang immediately set out for Juye Lake. Ten days later, he brought Liang Wu to Xingyang.

"Mr. Murong, you must have made a promise. I burned the dragon boat of the former emperor. The King of Qi is his son-in-law. Are you sure he won't cause trouble for me?"

Liang Wu rode his horse with Murong Sanzang into Xingyang City and came to the Xingyang Zheng family's villa where Li Yuanhui was staying. It is now the location of Tiance Mansion.

Liang Wusheng has a rough appearance, with broad shoulders and a big waist. Even in late autumn and early winter, he is not wrapped very thickly. Instead, you can vaguely see the hair on his chest.

Murong Sanzang thought, "Brother Liang Wu, you and I are old acquaintances. I have never lied to you. Now His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi has personally ordered me to go to Juye to summon you. Naturally, it is not to care about the past. Have you forgotten that I was also present when the Emperor's dragon boat was burned? Besides, Zhai Gong's son, Zhai Dalang, is now under the command of the Crown Prince of Guanzhong and has been granted the title of Duke of Lai. What are you afraid of?"

Liang Wu nodded upon hearing this, and then smiled and said, "So, this is a good thing for us?"

After Murong Sanzang's father Murong Xuan's rebellion failed, he defected to Wagang. Soon after, he led his army to personally participate in the attack on Murong Ying. It was at that time that he got to know Liang Wu.

After the defeat of Wagang, Murong Sanzang, Zhai Sixun and others returned to the Tang Dynasty and were stationed in Yanzhou and Qingzhou. They also asked Liang Wu's fleet to help transport food and troops.

The two men dismounted and followed the imperial guards all the way to the main hall.

It was noon, and Li Yuanhui was having lunch with several generals and staff members who were discussing military affairs.

Lunch is simple, just flatbread, which is noodles.

The dish was tossed with mutton soup and a large plate of mutton, which tasted great when dipped in the sauce.

Li Yuanhui was eating noodles and chatting with Zhu Deyu and Chang Yanheng. When he saw the two of them coming, he asked casually, "Haven't you had lunch yet? It's a good opportunity for us to have some together."

Murong Sanzang was naturally familiar with Li Yuanhui's style of doing things, so he sat down and ate noodles without any hesitation.

Liang Wu was a little hungry along the way. Seeing that everyone was eating happily, he couldn't help but feel hungry too. Murong Sanzang saw this and pulled him to sit down, and whispered: "The king is not a fussy person. Just eat if you are told to. Just relax."

Liang Wu then picked up the bowl and scooped up a large bowl of noodles. A servant scooped a spoonful of toppings for him. Liang Wu smiled and thanked him, then started eating.

Liang Wu was also hungry, so he thought the noodles and soup were really delicious, and the mutton was also delicious. Although it was eaten cold, it was really tasty.
Li Yuanhui and Zhu Deyu were originally eating, but after Liang Wu started eating, they couldn't help but put down their chopsticks and look over.

Liang Wu ate very quickly and finished a bowl of mutton noodle soup in no time. Then he hesitated. In fact, he wanted to have another bowl, but he felt embarrassed to bring it up. While he was hesitating, he looked up and saw Li Yuanhui and Zhu Deyu looking at him, and he smiled awkwardly.

Li Yuanhui said: "If you are not full, have another bowl."

Murong Sanzang whispered, "This is His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi."

Liang Wu was stunned for a moment, "You are the King of Qi?"

Li Yuanhui smiled and said, "Eat first. Eating a bowl is eating, and eating when you are full is also eating. Commander Liang, right?"

"Hehehe, what the King of Qi said is true. Can I have more mutton?"

"Hahaha, go tell the kitchen to cut another plate for us."

"That's great, thank you, Your Highness. Hehehe."

Seeing how hearty this man was, everyone couldn't help but feel more hungry.

After lunch, Li Yuanhui asked everyone to take a nap first, and he walked into the Zheng family's villa with Murong Sanzang and Liang Wu, who had eaten five bowls of noodle soup and three plates of braised mutton.

Liang Wu looked at the wealthy families in the mansion and couldn't help but sigh: "The king lives in a place like this? This mansion is really nice."

Li Yuanhui said: "This is not my home. We are in the villa of Zheng family in Xingyang. The history of Zheng family can be traced back to Zheng Dangshi, the Minister of Agriculture in the Western Han Dynasty. Zheng Xing and Zheng Zhong, father and son, were great Confucian scholars in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Zheng Hun served as the governor of Weijun and Shangdang, and was a famous official of Cao Wei. Zheng Tai served as the governor of Yangzhou, and was a famous official in the late Han Dynasty."

Liang Wu thought for a moment and asked, "We have heard of the Zheng family in Xingyang, but is it the family of General Zheng Guo?"

Li Yuanhui smiled and said, "That's right. The General Zheng you mentioned is the owner of this villa."

"Why is it that the Zheng family has high-ranking officials for generations, while our Liang family has to fish for a living. Your Majesty knows a lot, but you also know why I don't know?"

Liang Wu's question made Li Yuanhui immediately put away the smile on his face.

"The reason why aristocratic families are aristocratic families is because their family members all studied and became officials, so they naturally tried every means to let their descendants study and become officials as well. Just like if you have a boat and can fish, you will also pass your boat and fishing methods to your son, right?"

Liang Wu nodded: "Your Majesty is right, that's the truth. It's only natural for a father to pass it on to his son."

Li Yuanhui said: "It's not something that is natural or right. It's just selfishness. Everyone in the world is no exception. You are like this, and so am I."

"Those who can abandon their selfishness are probably saints."

Having said this, Li Yuanhui looked towards the north.

He admired selfless people, but he certainly couldn't do it himself. In this family-based environment, some overly advanced things seemed particularly out of place. The seeds were not yet in the right fertile soil.

That requires a group of people who are not concerned with gains and losses, have strong wills and hearts as strong as rocks.

As for now, it's still very early.

Each generation has its own tasks. Let’s take Asia first. Forget it. Let’s end the war first and then talk about other things.

I want to cross mountains and seas, but now it’s difficult to even cross the threshold.

(End of this chapter)