Meanwhile, the London negotiations had also entered a new phase. After the Battle of Constantinople broke out, the Bosporus Strait had been sealed off.
Shells had no eyes, and while capitalists had plenty of nerve, they were by no means fools! With over a thousand artillery pieces on both sides bombarding each other, who would dare run over there to court death?
Yet the prolonged closure of the Bosporus Strait had severely damaged the interests of capitalists engaged in overseas trade in the region, and the Russians had suffered the greatest losses of all!
It could not be helped—most of the Russian Empire's overseas trade passed through this golden waterway.
They could reroute through the Baltic Sea, but it was ultimately far less convenient than traveling through the Black Sea. More importantly, transportation costs would rise dramatically!
In just two months, the Russian Empire's total import and export trade had shrunk by nearly thirty percent!
They had been at war before, so no one could do much about it. Thinking that a victory would spare them another layer of plundering by the Ottoman Empire, the capitalists had endured it!
But it was already September. The war had ended more than half a month ago, yet because the negotiating sides were still haggling and occasionally trading a few artillery shots, the strait remained closed to navigation. That was intolerable!
The capitalists promptly sought out their patrons and used their influence on the Russian government! Autumn was especially close at hand, and a new grain harvest was about to arrive. If it could not be sold, the noble lords would suffer enormous losses as well!
Under pressure from the domestic nobility, Russian Empire diplomatic representative Sergei Yulyevich Witte was in a very bad mood.
He had to complete the task entrusted to