In 1815, a Chinese fleet arrived at the Romanian coastal city of Constanța. As early as the sixth century BC, Constanța had a fortress built by the Greeks. From a historical point of view, Constanța had its own history. The Chinese fleet didn't come to Constanța for archaeology. After the fleet docked, the workers on the docks and on the ships began to unload the cargo.
The starting point of the fleet was Sudan. A large number of sailors in work clothes were black. Of course, the Romanians couldn't tell the difference. The black people working on the Chinese ships were thin and short. They were not the same race as the black people in West Africa. That was also a European country. In the eyes of the Romanians, black people were equivalent to slaves for centuries. The only difference was whether they were sent on the slave ships to the Americas. However, these black people subverted the traditional view of the locals. They really looked like sailors and porters. Moreover, there were guards on the ship, and the guards were armed with live ammunition. Among the guards in khaki uniforms led by the Chinese, the proportion of black people was even more than half, close to 70%.
Zhong Danian was the commercial representative of the fleet. He was in the local merchant house, gesturing with the Romanians. He spoke a mixture of Chinese and Romanian words. China had a specialized foreign language academy, but they didn't have enough personnel to equip every fleet. Zhong Danian's Romanian was limited to listening. When communicating, he relied more on his flexible hand gestures and the small notebook in his hand. When it came to money, he wrote down a number and handed it to the local merchants. No matter how intense the discussions among the local merchants were, both parties used Arabic numbers to communicate.
April was a cruel month. Even in May, the shortage of crops was only alleviated, but not solved. The Sudanese pasture helped the Romanian farms to tide over the difficult times. The currency used for the purchase was not Romania's local currency. Instead, it was the Austrian bank branch that completed the transfer of funds. There was a 10% handling fee for the transfer. Although the handling fee was high, the benefits were obvious. The credit of the Austrian bank was far better than the local Romanian bank. With the Austrian bank's check, one could transfer and withdraw money in major European countries. Europe didn't recognize the Romanian currency that was only four years old.
In the end, the deal was done. Zhong Danian finally got the check he was looking forward to. Generally speaking, after the transaction was completed, it was time for the traditional mode of living on the sea. The sailors would eat and drink in the local taverns, seeking pleasure. However, this did not happen to the China fleet. The local hotels in Romania did not welcome foreigners. The Chinese were fine, but black people were considered a different race in Romania. They were not welcomed at all.
The crew stayed on the ship, waiting for the next day to pull the anchor and set sail to return to Sudan. At the home port of Port Sudan, the sailors could fully relax. There, Chinese and East African sailors would not be discriminated against.
In the middle of the night, Zhong Danian dreamt that he was hugging a Romanian Caucasian girl on his left and a beautiful African girl on his right. He seemed to be drinking wine or doing something stupid. Was he dreaming? His nervous system was just assembling those memory fragments. He didn't have any real thinking ability.
At this moment, the ship's alarm sounded. The Romanian girl and the African girl were instantly chased away by the awakening of their minds. Zhong Danian, who was lying on the hammock, opened his eyes and saw an orange-yellow light shining through the porthole.
"The dock is on fire! The dock is on fire! "In the midst of the alarm, the watchman on duty shouted at the top of his lungs.
Zhong Danian tidied up his crotch as he jumped down from the hammock and stood next to the porthole. He saw the warehouse where the pasture was stored was ablaze. The area around the fire was illuminated as bright as day. Not only was the area near the fire, but there were also flames in several places, including the berths at the dock.
The China fleet did not care so much. At this time, self-preservation was the priority. Not long after, the ship's searchlights and signal lights lit up. They worked until dawn. The China fleet left the burning Port Constanta safely and sailed into the safe waters. Not only was the fire not extinguished, but the wind grew stronger and stronger. A large area with the port as the center was affected.
Similar to the ports of this era, Port Constanta also looked like a rural-urban area. Apart from a few main buildings and a few wealthy residential areas, there were thatched cottages and small wooden houses next to each other. Once a big fire broke out, there was no fire zone between them at all. The house that caught fire became the culprit that ignited the other houses.
Zhong Danian felt lucky. If he had not received the check earlier, the loss this time would not have been small. In the early morning, Zhong Danian looked at the still billowing smoke at the port. He even gloated that he would have another chance to sell pasture to Romania.
However, things did not go as smoothly as he thought. In the morning, the Romanian navy actually made a move. They stopped the China fleet that was preparing to leave Port Constanta. Under the command of the fleet's commander, all the personnel were arranged to pick up their weapons and be prepared to deal with any mishaps.
When the representative of the Romanian navy boarded the ship, he saw the China sailors carrying rifles. The Romanian major's expression turned ugly.
"Did any China crew disembark secretly last night?" The major shouted at the China fleet's commander. From his voice, it could be heard that he was under a lot of pressure. Although speaking Romanian wasn't Zhong Danian's forte, pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger in a business negotiation was a very advantageous thing. Hearing this question, Zhong Danian felt that the situation was developing in a very strange direction.
"Do you locals welcome black people?" the fleet's commander said impatiently. Port Constanta was also one of the Romanian navy's home ports. If there were black people loitering in the port, it would definitely be an eyesore.
Although the Romanian major also knew that this question was meaningless, the order he received was to strictly inspect all the ships in the port. Therefore, the major said loudly, "Your ships cannot leave here. They must be inspected at all times."
"F * ck your mother!" The China fleet's commander cursed in Chinese. The Romanian navy was very small, and there were probably less than a handful of people who understood Chinese. The fleet's commander was also not worried about any international disputes. Zhong Danian could easily understand this point. Being investigated meant a lot of trouble. Not to mention whether the cause of the fire was intentional, even if they caught the arsonist, the investigated party would be put in a difficult position. Europe was not China. In China, there were accident investigation agencies. In Europe, where the feudal system was deeply rooted, it was very common to catch people as scapegoats. Moreover, so what if they caught the arsonist? Half of the city had been set on fire. Could the arsonist's family withstand the consequences? At this time, it was normal to get a few rich families to extort money from them.
After cursing in China, the fleet's commander asked the translator to tell the Romanian major in Romanian, "Our people did not participate in these actions. You have no right to ask China's ships to accept your investigation. Besides, you should check your own people. It's not the first time we have come here to do business. We do it several times every year. If we burn down the port, who are we going to do business with? You should at least have this basic common sense! "
The major could understand what he meant. China came all the way to Romania's largest port to set fire. It took a lot of leaps and bounds to agree with this line of thinking. However, the fire was so fierce that if they let China's ships leave, the Romanian navy would not be able to explain themselves.
So the dispute began, and then the standoff began. The China did not let the Romanian navy board the ships, and the Romanian navy did not let the China ships leave. The standoff lasted from May 3rd to May 6th.
On the evening of May 5th, the newspaper editor of Bucharest Izvestia looked drunk, but his eyes were still sharp. He opened the envelope and counted the stack of pounds inside. The editor's eyes became even sharper.
"Don't worry, I'll handle it!" The editor expressed his guarantee in Romanian.
On the morning of the 6th of May, Bucharest Izvestia published an article on its front page. In addition to introducing the Great Fire of Constanta, the article also stated that after the Chinese ships unloaded the largest amount of hay, which was used as fuel for the fire, they raised their anchors immediately after the fire broke out. They left the port while the other ships were still anchored in the port, but a large number of ships in the port were ignited by the fire. When our navy intercepted the Chinese ships and asked for an investigation, the Chinese ships refused to board the ship for investigation, citing weapons. Now, the two sides were in a standoff near the port. The Chinese ships refused to comply with our laws and were being investigated.
The editor used his ability to manipulate news. Although the article was mostly true, the truth pointed in the direction he was looking forward to.
This kind of publicity worked quickly. Within a few days, newspapers began to follow up. The news became more and more heated. No one cared about how the fire of Port Constanta started. More and more people began to pay attention to the China fleet. Some tabloids even began to write "mystery novels" in the name of news.
Fortunately, the China ships had radio sets. The people trapped at sea received a message asking the fleet to be on guard. The East African administrative region in Sudan was in a tense state of communication.
The China ambassador to Romania had already begun to visit the Romanian officials, hoping that they could solve these problems. However, the Romanian government, who originally promised, began to change their statement as the news spread.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
