Gao Qiu
Gao Qiu sends Yang Zhi and several officers to escort rare minerals and plants, known as "huashigang" (花石綱), to Dongjing for the decoration of a park of Emperor Huizong. Yang loses the freight assigned him when his boats capsize in the Yellow River during a storm. Fearing punishment, he goes on the run. When he learns that his offence is pardoned in a wide-ranging amnesty, he returns to Dongjing in hope of being reinstated in his job.