In fact, the impact of the Ottoman closure of the Black Sea straits was far greater than Eder and others imagined. In Constanta, Romania's largest port city, the effect is already being felt.

On Reford Street, where Constanta trading companies are concentrated, people are now panicking at the news and are talking about it.

"The Ottomans have closed the strait because of the war, and now our company's ship is only full of goods and can't get out."

A well-dressed middle-aged man sat at the table and said worriedly to his friends.

"It's not the same in my company. It has only been 3 days since I got the order, and the factory is working overtime to produce, and now that the strait is closed, I can only negotiate a solution with the trading partner who placed the order. ”

Another friend spoke out what he knew. "I heard that the government has approached Bulgaria to negotiate a way to ship it out?"

When the middle-aged man heard the news, he said disdainfully. "I won't use this path unless I have to."

"Why?"

"Those Bulgarian barbarians, demand a 20 per cent transit fee, and the transportation fee is calculated separately. In addition, the price of railway freight in Bulgaria has also increased, and it is now 50% higher. ”

It seems that this middle-aged man is also well-informed, and even knows clearly what the government is still talking about.

"What, so expensive. If that's the case, the more we sell, the more we lose. ”

"Why don't these Bulgarian barbarians rob it."

"They're just grabbing."

Seeing his friends who became more and more angry the more he talked, the middle-aged man could only sigh. "Now I only dare to accept orders from Germany and Austria and Russia, and the others dare not accept at all because they are afraid that the freight is too expensive and there is no profit."

Hearing his words, my friend still spoke indignantly. "A year ago, it was being too merciful to these Bulgarian barbarians that made them so lawless now."

Of course, they are not the only ones who are dissatisfied with the closure of the Channel, and Hawke Sell, who is at the helm of the famous Hawke Trading Company on Wrayford Street, is also worried.

Born in a small fishing village in Tulcea, Hawk Seed was also a legend, and from an early age he was interested in the sea, until he became a sailor on a cargo ship at the age of 18. With his hard work and ingenuity, he soon stood out among them and became a boatswain. At this time, he was admitted to the navigation school with the money he had saved from running a boat for several years, and he also stood out in the class with his excellent results.

After graduating from school, he worked as a first mate and captain, and with a few years of hard work, he bought a bankrupt merchant's sea-going ship, and then he returned to his hometown to recruit people and make a fortune on this sea-going ship. Some people may ask, this is just a good hard worker, and there is a legend. The key is that after he recruited these hometowners, he taught them what he had learned without reservation.

You must know that at that time, the cost of training the captain and first mate was not low, and he himself suffered hardships. But he still taught his fellow villagers all his knowledge. And these fellow villagers are very grateful for his selfless help, they work very hard, and if someone wants to go it alone, he also provides the tricks he knows. As a result, more and more people obeyed him, and the business also developed with the help of others, consciously or unconsciously, and now the Turkia Chamber of Commerce, which he and his fellow villagers formed, occupies 45% of the Romanian shipping industry, and is definitely the leading hegemon in the shipping industry.

Now that the Ottomans had the greatest impact on them, he certainly had to discuss the situation with his fellow countrymen.

In his living room, there were more than a dozen people, all of them with sad faces, including Hawke.

"If I say that this war may end soon, isn't Germany all on the edge of Paris, and we wait patiently and it will be over."

An optimistic person, seeing that everyone is at a loss, says something optimistic to enlighten everyone.

"Your message is out of date. Now that Britain and France had withstood the German attack, the situation became stalemate. I think the German army is so powerful, and Britain, France and Russia are outnumbered, and some of them are fighting this war. ”

A man who was more informed than the optimistic guy continued. "If we hadn't closed the strait, now would have been a good opportunity for us to make money, and now freight rates have generally increased by 35 percent, and we don't have to worry about cargo at all. I heard that now all the freight bosses in Europe have made a fortune, and we are the only ones who are trapped here. If this continues, the sailors will run out. Mr. Hawke, what do you say we should do? ”

With this question, everyone's eyes were focused on Hawk Sard. Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Hawke, who was already in his 40s, stood up and spoke. "I understand what you mean, but now shipping is completely out of the way. But we all had to live, and we had a whole bunch of sailors to help us work. Now I have a solution, I don't know if you want to hear it. ”

"Let's talk about it."

"We listen to you."

"Hawke, you are known for your impartiality, and we trust you."

Seeing that everyone believed in themselves, Hawke did not hide it and spoke directly. "Thank you for believing in me so much, and now I have two options. The first is to gather all our ships outside the Strait and temporarily open a new freight company to take orders for these ships. ”

Hearing Hawke's words, someone asked. "How will this profit be distributed?"

Hawke continued. "The person who goes out of the boat takes 85% of the profit, and the rest is divided equally among those who don't have a boat outside the strait. Let me start by saying myself, outside the strait there are four ships, two 4000-ton bulk carriers, one 9000-ton car carrier, and one 6000-ton tanker. ”

Everyone knew that Hawke had seven ships, the most of all the people. Now he is willing to give profits to the people who can't give the strait an equal distribution, which is also very righteous. So the other ships outside the channel also spoke of their own ships.

"I have two ships outside the strait, a 5,000-ton bulk carrier and a 4,000-ton bulk carrier."

"I also have two ships outside, a 6,000-ton bulk cargo and a 4,000-ton tanker."

"I have a 6,000-ton car carrier outside."

"And my ......"

Soon everyone reported their ships, and Hawke calculated that everyone had 17 ships outside the channel, and it seemed that they could form a shipping company that was not too small.

In the crowd for this new shipping company to choose the lead, who is responsible for the operation, who is responsible for the money and so on. Originally, they wanted Hawke to be in charge of running the shipping company, but he thought he was unwilling to give up, so they chose a new one.

Having solved the problem of ships trapped inside the strait, the problem of ships trapped inside the strait will now be dealt with.

Seeing that everyone was waiting for him to say a solution, Hawke said what he had in mind. "With regard to the ship trapped in the strait, I intended it this way. You see, now that the Ottoman Austria-Hungary and the Russian economy have been completely cut off, we may be able to act as an intermediary and buy their goods in our own name and then transfer them to other countries? ”

Everyone is running shipping, and they are clear about what is produced in various places, and people who are anxious will be the first to say it. "This is a way, the Ottoman wool and cotton and other items are also very marketable in other countries, Russia is also in the grain and oil, and German machinery and equipment are also very popular, and now we are doing this with a profit that is definitely not low."

When there are people who are in favor of it, there are people who are against it. "But we have to take a big risk in this way, and we will be arrested and shot."

Everyone knows very well that this is not smuggling, or smuggling in wartime, and it is really a big risk.

There are still people who are greedy for the huge profits in it. "If we don't, we'll all starve to death. To be shot is to die, but not to starve to death? At the very least, you can leave enough wealth for your family to live on. ”

Everyone was moved by these words, they are all rich people, and no one wants to let them live as if they had not made a fortune before, and now this road is also their last resort, and they must learn everything they say.

That's when Hawke said the security measures he had prepared. "It's really dangerous for us to resell like this, but we don't want to take all these profits, and share a part of the profits with the port officials of various countries, so that we can be safe."

After hearing his words, everyone was also a lot more relieved, they had to deal with these officials a lot, and they were also clear about the faces of the port officials of several surrounding countries. There is nothing they dare not take. In this way, although it reduces its profits, it is also a lot of insurance. At least in danger, these officials are afraid of being dragged into the water.

So everyone agreed after deliberation that everyone was in shipping, and no one would be timid. Otherwise, a ship with goods sinks, and this compensation should not drive people crazy.

So everyone agreed to Hawke's plan, and then everyone began to discuss what to do to keep their profits. And Hawke himself did not think of how powerful the temporary solution he came up with because of the severance of the strait would be in the future.

PS After writing, the steamed bun slept and prepared to write today's two chapters, thank you for the book friends who never gave up on the steamed bun, it was you who tolerated the willfulness of the previous steamed bun that often broke off, thank you, the steamed bun bowed and thanked you.