History Literature / UnderHeaven

* WhatMeasureIsAMook: When Shen Tai borrows a horse to head back to the capital, he also gets a soldier from the nearby army post assigned to help take care of its needs every day. At one point he realizes he's forgotten the man's name, and asks... shortly before he's killed in an overnight scuffle based on a misunderstanding.
--> [...]Tai said, "He is not nameless. His name was Wujen Ning. A soldier of the Second District army posted to Iron Gate Fortress, assigned by his commander to guard me and my horse, serving the emperor by obeying the orders of his officers, including myself."\\
He was trying, even as he spoke, to remember the man, his features, words.[...] Tai was relieved he'd remembered the name. Had been able to offer it to this courtyard assembly, to the gods.

* InsistentTerminology: Sima Zian, the Banished Immortal. He's "Immortal" because of his poetry, and he's "Banished" because... he keeps having to leave (or flee) the capital due to some verses that end up stepping in someone's ego. (Part of the reputation is he's also repeatedly kicked out of heaven, for presumably the same reason; this also makes him "immortal". But considering that the capital is viewed as (an earthly home/location of) heaven, being the home of the Emperor, it's almost the same thing.

''Under Heaven'' is a novel by Creator/GuyGavrielKay published in 2010. Set in a LowFantasy version of [[ImperialChina Tang China]], it is a fictionalized retelling of the events leading up to the An Lushan Rebellion. ''Literature/RiverOfStars'' is set in the same universe, but several centuries after the events of this book.

* AppealToAuthority: Usually shows up in QuoteToQuoteCombat; using well known poetry, or name-dropping poets, bolsters arguments in the quoter's favor. The poem may have originally been just about how a particular river looks in summer, for example. Also, at one point "history-mandarins" are referenced in regards to "popular" forms of storytelling.

* InsistentTerminology: Sima Zian, the Banished Immortal. He's "Immortal" because of his poetry, and he's "Banished" because... he keeps having to leave (or flee) the capital due to some verses that end up stepping in someone's ego. (Part of the reputation is he's also repeatedly kicked out of heaven, for presumably the same reason; this also makes him "immortal". But considering that the capital is viewed as (an earthly home/location of) heaven, being the home of the Emperor, it's almost the same thing.)

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Apparently, Tai's father developed some fresh opinions on war in his retirement; if said aloud (to the wrong person, namely anyone outside of his immediate family), they would have gotten him in trouble for being disloyal to the [[MandateOfHeaven Ninth Dynasty]].

*** He then comes up with the idea of regifting the horses to the Emperor. But: not only would the Emperor be expected to honor him for his burial work, he would have a problem reciprocating such a lavish gift with an even better gift (being the Emperor, and an earthly representative of the MandateOfHeaven) to one of his subjects.

* LibationForTheDead: "[Tai] set down his cup and knelt. He bowed his head to touch the green grass by the grave. He did this three times. He stood, reclaiming the cup, and he poured the libation on the ground, for his father."
** And Li-Mei eventually does this for her brother Liu.

* MandateOfHeaven: Toward the last third of the book, it's discussed whether the Emperor has lost this, due to the increasing friction between the Civil Service, and Roshan.

* InsistentTerminology: Sima Zian, the Bannished Immortal. He's "Immortal" because of his poetry, and he's "Banished" because... he keeps having to leave (or flee) the capital due to some verses that end up stepping in someone's ego. (Part of the reputation is he's also repeatedly kicked out of heaven, for presumably the same reason; this also makes him "immortal". But considering that the capital is viewed as (an earthly home/location of) heaven, being the home of the Emperor, it's almost the same thing.)

* WorthyOpponent: Tai becomes close friend with one of the commanders of the last enemies Kitai fought; enough that he's willing to outright lend him his own 'heavenly horse', give him advice that Tai accepts, and offers to write a letter that should help him keep the horses sequestered until Tai is ready to accept them. (The commander ends up promoted and in charge of a different post because he now appears to "have the ear of royalty"- this coincidentally means he's now in charge of the post ''his own father'' serves at.) It helps that Tai spent two years burying soldiers of ''both'' sides. The commanding officer even openly chews out one of his subordinates (that recently joined the outpost) that accuses Shen Tai of disrespecting some of the corpses (and later calls him a hot-headed idiot [[HonorBeforeReason looking for battle glory]].)

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: In-universe. The corrupt and inept First Minister Wen Zhou is regarded by future historians as a noble figure who was just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Meanwhile, more upstanding figures like General Xu Bihai are given the [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade opposite treatment]].

* ChurchMilitant: the Kanlin, who are basically the Shaolin (except that they are vaguely Taoist instead of Buddhist and admitted nuns into their ranks). At the time of the story, they are a ubiquitous organization that hire themselves out as bodyguards, assassins (but only if the target is considered worthy of death by the head monks and nuns), and they act as impartial arbiters, recordkeepers and witnesses to negotiations of state.

* NoPronunciationGuide: The novel does not bother to explain how the names rendered Mandarin Pinyin sounds (to be fair, you can probably go on the internet to check how pinyin works). Although Kay is generally good enough to name most of his characters something easily pronounceable for anglophones, avoiding some of the more exotic Chinese phonemes (like words with ''c, x,'' or ''q'').

* HonorBeforeReason: Shows up a lot, usually in the form of "We know what a good course of action is, but our culture says do this instead."

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Shen Tai is shown to still be somewhat besotted with a courtesan he knew while studying for the Civil Service exams, but they had had a conversation before he left on a self imposed mission (that she didn't find out about until years later) about the possibility that she could become the concubine of an important civil servant. When she does, she still ends up thinking about Tai, especially because of that conversation. When he comes back (just before a civil war breaks out, as it happens), he's more concerned with whether or not she has a comfortable life, and whether she's prepared already for any of the unrest that they think is coming in the near future. This doesn't prevent Tai from confessing that he had thought about her too, or stating that it doesn't do her any favors having her know this, since they can't be together.
* IdiotBall: As later in-universe historians points out, first minister Wen Zhou ordering the army of Xu Bihai to march out of the safety of the impregnable Teng Pass fortresses to engage Roshan's forces (which, as has been pointed out earlier by the general, was already crumbling with the strain of maintaining the siege) in open battle was probably an [[UnderStatement unwise]] thing to do. Funnily enough, Roshan's forces are so blindsided by the stupidity of Xu's attack that Xu almost managed to win the battle from sheer RefugeInAudacity -- unfortunately, that was not enough, the battle was lost and the capital was lost to the rebels by the end of the week. The incident was based on the real life Battle of Tongguan.

* PapaWolf: One of the reasons that spur An Li to rebel against Kitai is his fear that his sons are threatened by First Minister Wen Zhou. [[spoiler: Ironically, An Li is assassinated on the orders of one of his sons.]]

* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler: Minister Wen Zhou is the one behind the attempts on Shen Tai's life, not because he's threatened by the man, but simply because Tai is an OldFlame of Zhou's favorite concubine, Spring Rain. What makes this a particularly egregious case is that Tai and Rain have moved on from each other. Zhou simply sees killing Tai as a way to flex his newfound power.]]

* AppealToAuthority: Usually shows up in Quote-to-Quote Combat; using well known poetry, or name-dropping poets, bolsters arguments in the quoter's favor. The poem may have originally been just about how a particular river looks in summer, for example. Also, at one point "history-mandarins" are referenced in regards to "popular" forms of storytelling.

* AppealToAuthority: Usually shows up in QuoteToQuoteCombat; using well known poetry, or name-dropping poets, bolsters arguments in the quoter's favor. Also, at one point "history-mandarins" are referenced in regards to "popular" forms of storytelling.

-->Do Kitan women all speak so much, not listen? I said we see garrison. Not go there. [...] We see walls and turn south. Kiran fortress is protection[.]"

** [[spoiler:Wen Jian]] due to the belief that, by playing politics, [[spoiler:she caused the civil war by playing her cousin Wen Zhou and 'adopted son' An Li against each other. She]] puts on a favored outfit, and after a suggestion, is allowed to [[spoiler:dance one last time]]. The knife was used so no particular soldier would be a marked man for firing an arrow.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Shen Tai manages to pull this unwittingly, where the "rules" involve how to properly talk to a trusted servant of the Emperor's favorite consort. He ends up at on point making a gesture that means, generally, "Please shut up, now"... and then wonders why he isn't being reprimanded as a rude army officer. After some thought, he figures it out: because he is [[spoiler:a brother to a woman made royalty ''before'' being sent north]], he, and his family, are now [[spoiler:also royalty]]. It's possibly why Prince Shinzu later politely asks him to ''consider'' gifting his horses, versus saying "I expect your horses when you collect them."

* {{Kitsune}}: While kitsune, specifically, are largely a Japanese story/myth, the (Chinese-based) characters here do discuss ''daiji''- "fox women"- several times on the way back to the capital. Tai especially suspects that Wei Song appears to believe they exist, more than he does. In one case, he ends up asking a governor's daughter if she has a ''daiji'' within her, after an attempted seduction to convince him to assign his horses to her father. (She does acknowledge, "I am flattered you think me fair enough to be a ''daiji'' spirit, but it is an error.")
** And Song is exasperated that it took so long for him to ask if the governor's daughter ''was'' one; she was waiting outside the door, and if he hadn't broken things up on his own... she would have. For his own safety, of course.

* {{Alchemy}}: Accepted as a part of daily life. The Emperor even has an alchemist as part of his staff.

* GallowsHumor: After Tai spends nearly two years burying corpses left on a battlefield of a Kitai/Tagur war, a Taguran considers him enough of a WorthyOpponent that he's even willing to lend him a horse. One of his recently assigned subordinates, however, accuse Tai of [[DesecratingTheDead disrespecting the Taguaran dead]]. Shen Tai's response is to ask him to point them out, so he could get started with the disrespect.