Heavenly Tang

Tian Tang is a historical time-travel novel by the web author Ge Yu. Serialized on Qidian.com from November 20, 2011, it has been completed and runs to over 1.4 million Chinese characters. The story opens with a modern man—a former associate professor of history turned vice mayor—transported to the summer of the eleventh year of the Tianbao era under Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, where he becomes Zhang Xuan, the youngest son of the celebrated Kaiyuan-era chancellor Zhang Jiuling. This young man from a distinguished family has long been notorious in Chang'an as a wastrel, and his story begins with a family crisis: his elder brother Zhang Huan is accused of "falsely invoking prophetic omens," stripped of office, and thrown into prison. Fewer than three years remain before the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion, and the powerful minister Li Linfu is nearing the end of his time in power; at court, multiple factions—Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong, and Crown Prince Li Heng—scheme and struggle against one another. Zhang Xuan uses his own cunning to resolve his family's troubles and clear his reputation as a wastrel, while relying on his foreknowledge of history to maneuver among the various factions and gradually draw closer to the center of power. When the An Lushan Rebellion breaks out, he builds up the Longshuo region, takes control of military power, and carves out his own path through the chaos. Blending court intrigue, border warfare, and questions of family and nation, the book is another alternate-history work set in the Tang dynasty from Ge Yu, following The Porcelain King and The Tang Dynasty Tippler.