Chapter 285 Chinese New Year

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Nearly half a month later, the two caravans that had gone out returned, with a difference of one day between them.

During this period, Tom remodeled more than a dozen merchant ships. At this time, the number of merchant ships flying the goldfish flag of the Bula Chamber of Commerce in the inner harbor has increased to more than 20! Fortunately, the bay in the inner circle of the Bird's Nest is large enough, so even if hundreds of ships dock, it will not be crowded.

(I don’t know why the “whale” flag was not approved, so I had to use the goldfish flag.)

Inside the castle hall

The few people who returned were reporting some basic information about this trade trip to Captain Gel.

Tezulo stood up and began to speak:

"Captain, our goods are very popular. They are almost sold out on the first day they arrive. We don't have to put in any effort. And this amount is not enough to meet the market demand. Instead, it takes a lot of time to buy all the necessary items. Moreover, our production and transportation costs are very low, so even if we sell them at about 3% lower than the market price, the profit is nearly 200%. The total profit of the goods of the 12 ships in this trip alone is 12 billion Baileys. If there are more islands doing trade with us in the future and the fleet is larger, how much Bailey will we earn in a year! Assuming there are 4500 ships and they run a trip every month, we can make more than 1200 billion Baileys in a year! It's amazing."

Stella poured tea for Captain Gill while smiling as she watched Tesoro dancing and gesticulating excitedly.

Gel blew away the hot air in the cup, took a sip of tea and said with a smile:

"Haha, you are too narrow-minded, Tezoro. A hundred cargo ships are not enough. We need at least a few thousand. Once our Chamber of Commerce's name is known across the sea, we can expand our business to the second half of the Grand Line and the four seas. By then, even tens of thousands of cargo ships may not be able to make it."

"What? Tens of thousands of cargo ships?"

Everyone was shocked by Captain Gill's big appetite.

"Heiheihe! You really are worthy of being Boss Gel! Your vision is different!"

"But our focus is still on the Grand Line. As long as there is money to be made, there will naturally be merchants who will resell our goods and help us spread our goods to every corner of the world."

Mosan did not show too much surprise. He was the first to understand Captain Geer's blueprint for a huge business empire. He calmly drank a sip of tea, stroked his mustache and said:

"Captain, I think that every time we open up a market on an island, we can set up a base on the island where we establish long-term and stable trade. We can directly buy a larger shop and hire some local shop assistants and shopkeepers to take care of it. In the future, our fleet will only need to be responsible for transportation, and we can ask them to buy and prepare the things we need to purchase in advance. In this way, after the fleet arrives at the destination, it only needs to unload and load the goods and return immediately. It is much more convenient and can greatly save time and cost!"

Oh? Are you planning to open a chain of stores?

Gel's eyes lit up when he heard that. This fat boy Mosan was indeed a talented person with a great business sense. It was such a waste to let him be a rich man in Xiluobu Village in the East China Sea.

"Not bad, not bad! Your idea is very good and can be implemented, but you have to be very careful when recruiting people. If we can open stores on all the islands, these people can be developed into our spies in the future and help us collect all kinds of intelligence from all over the world!"

Gel nodded affirmatively.

"Boss, this time we killed a total of 11 pirate gangs, including one with a bounty of 1 million berries. We brought him back. I want to use his shadow, but if it turns into a toy, all the stories about him will disappear from the sea. Will that affect our plan?"

Moria said with some distress that it was really not easy to find a few decent pirates with a bounty of at least hundreds of millions in the first half.

"It's okay. We don't need one or two of these. Just use them first."

Gel waved his hand casually.

"Heiheihei, okay boss."

"Okay, let's just develop the Chamber of Commerce's affairs slowly. The fleet and manpower cannot be rushed. You must learn to let things go, build the framework as soon as possible, and then get out of the way. Just take charge of the overall situation and grasp the general direction behind the scenes. Don't do everything yourself. It's impossible to run around at sea all the time. There's no way we can keep up. We still have a lot of other things to do."

"It's the captain!"

Everyone responded in unison.

When you need them, you realize that you still don't have enough talent! Take your time.

Gel shook his head and sighed, saying that there were many things he wanted to do, but without enough manpower to carry out all of them at once, it would be easy to take too big steps and end up hurting himself.

"Captain, I brought back more than a dozen permanent pointers this time, six of which are relatively close to us. There are four targets with towns suitable for trade. I think this trip went very smoothly and there is no need to rest. We can set sail tomorrow after loading the cargo. Now that we have a dozen more ships, we can make more than 6 billion by making another trip!"

Tezolo enjoyed the joy of making money and immediately asked for overtime.

"No, the Chinese New Year is coming in a few days. After returning from this trip, we have to stay here to rest. We can do other things after the Chinese New Year. There is no end to making money. Who would work overtime on New Year's Eve or the Spring Festival? It's too much."

Gel refused directly.

"Chinese New Year? Captain, what is Chinese New Year? And what is New Year's Eve or Spring Festival?"

Hearing Gel speak so seriously, everyone asked in confusion.

"Um, don't you celebrate the New Year? It's about welcoming the new year."

Seeing everyone's bewildered expressions, Gel said:

"It doesn't matter if you don't know. Just listen to me. From now on, the last day of the year will be called New Year's Eve. On New Year's Eve, all family members will gather together to eat a New Year's Eve dinner. The first day of the new year will be called the Spring Festival, and it will also be lively and joyful..."

After hearing Captain Gill's words that these two days were of special significance and needed to be celebrated, everyone nodded, not quite understanding. However, considering that January 1st seemed to be Captain Gill's birthday, it was indeed necessary for everyone to get together to celebrate.

Then,

In the next few days, everyone on the island began to prepare for the New Year under the command of Captain Gir and was busy.

"A little higher, a little higher, all right! Stop! That's it!"

"Roar, how about my Franky's flight mode? Aren't you super jealous?"

"Yes Yes Yes!"

Iceberg commanded Franky, who had transformed into a small helicopter, to hang the large lantern high above the castle.

When the children heard that a festival was going to be celebrated, they were very happy and came to help actively. They received a lot of lanterns, ribbons and other decorations from Captain Gill, and then began to freely express their ideas and carefully decorate the castle.

Standing in front of the door and looking at it, the Gothic castle gate looked out of place with the red spring couplets pasted on it, but Gel still nodded with satisfaction.

"Not bad!"

"Peace and good fortune in all seasons, happiness and prosperity for the whole family. Banner: Blessings shine brightly!"

It's perfect except that Ger's handwriting is a bit ugly.

Everyone wearing new clothes sat happily in the hall. The steaming New Year's Eve dinner on the table was fragrant. The delicious dishes carefully prepared by Chef Fit added a lot of warmth to this festival that symbolizes reunion, harmony and happiness.

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