I was the Founding Father of the United States

Chapter 172 Franklin's Love Letters

Meanwhile, when Chen Wenbin and his party arrived at the Franklin family mansion at 322 Market Street by carriage, they learned some unexpected news from Mrs. Deborah as soon as they met her.

"—What? Madam, you mean, William received the King's appointment four days ago to serve as Governor of New Jersey?"

Chen Wenbin sat in the living room, his brows furrowed, the feeling that something was wrong growing stronger.

Seeing this, the elderly lady, who was in her fifties, thought Chen Wenbin was angry and quickly stood up to explain, "—Your Excellency, William was in a hurry to leave, so he didn't stay to say goodbye. I apologize on his behalf, and please forgive him!"

Chen Wenbin realized what was happening and waved his hand, saying, "Please sit down! Madam, please sit down. I didn't mean to blame William—Benjamin and I are old friends. You can just call me Robin!"

Seeing his gentle attitude, Mrs. Deborah breathed a sigh of relief and quickly gave instructions to the middle-aged black maid serving in the living room.

"Jemima! Quickly get some of my homemade cookies for Robin and the guests—they're in the drying box in the kitchen."

"Yes, Madam!"

The plump Black woman quickly responded and swayed her large buttocks as she ran to the kitchen.

Chen Wenbin glanced at her subconsciously, but didn't ask any further questions.

Franklin already knew that his family had black slaves, and he had even met Jemima's husband, Peter, in London—who was also black, of course.

Keeping black slaves was a relatively common practice among gentry families in the North American colonies.

Especially in the central and southern colonies outside of New England, ordinary farming families could not afford white British butlers and servants, so they had to use cheap and easy-to-use black butlers and servants.

Regardless of whether his skin is dark or not, at least with a butler and servants, he looks like a respectable gentleman.

But Chen Wenbin had no interest in the situation of domesticated black slaves at the moment. He looked at the old lady in front of him and tentatively asked:

Madam, I would like to know if the King has any other requirements besides appointing William as Governor of New Jersey?

Did Benjamin know about this?

Mrs. Deborah thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "—There shouldn't be any other requests. Benjamin probably didn't know William had been appointed governor by the king when he wrote the letter; he didn't mention it at all in it!"

"Have you seen the King's letter of appointment? And may I see the letter Benjamin recently wrote to you?"

Upon hearing this request, Mrs. Deborah hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, saying, "Dr. Robin, I haven't seen William's letter of appointment, but Ben's letter—well!"

If you insist, I can show you —

With that, she asked Chen Wenbin and Pastor Jensen to wait in the living room while she went upstairs to get the letter.

After she left, Attorney Marvin immediately whispered, "Your Excellency! William has actually been appointed Governor of New Jersey by the King!"

Could it be that Mr. Franklin was behind this—?

"That possibility cannot be ruled out."

Chen Wenbin exhaled and slowly said, "I suspect that what just happened in the council chamber is related to William's appointment as governor!"

The King suddenly appointed William as the Governor of New Jersey, and William was both Benjamin's son and my subordinate.

This happened right around the time the UK was about to implement the North American stamp duty—this was very unusual!

Reverend Jason pondered, "Robin, do you mean that someone in London wants to drag you into the stamp duty controversy?"

"Like Speaker Galloway and his group just now?"

Chen Wenbin glanced at him, shook his head slightly, and calmly said, "The situation is still unclear. I need to confirm whether Benjamin has betrayed us!"

Reverend Johnson nodded seriously. The North American Stamp Act was about to be implemented, and the son of Franklin, the main representative of public opinion in the North American colonies in London, had become the Royal Governor of New Jersey. It was indeed necessary to find out his position.

Not long after, Mrs. Deborah came downstairs carrying a wooden box. After hesitating for a moment, she took out the letter on top and handed it to Chen Wenbin.

"This is the letter I received four days ago—it only asked me to send money and manage the printing workshop and bookstore, nothing else."

Chen Wenbin took the letter, opened it, and suddenly understood why the old lady had been so hesitant earlier—it turned out that the fat man's letter was just too mushy!

What a lovely rose, every night in London I think of your eyes and lips—

After a whole page of cringe-worthy, cheesy love quotes, the main purpose of the letter came next: the fat man wanted Mrs. Deborah to quickly transfer 70% of the profits from the newspaper, printing press, and bookstore, as well as the rent from the Philadelphia real estate, to him. He also said that it should be done through the Bank of America, as he was a VIP client of the Bank of America and the fees were very low.

Damn it, that fat old man is even trying to fleece us for this little bit of money!

Chen Wenbin quickly read through the letter once, then, despite getting goosebumps, read it again from the beginning before handing it back to the shy old lady.

That's right!

The word "shy" can certainly be used to describe Mrs. Deborah, who is in her fifties!

Chen Wenbin had to admire the old fat man; he really knew how to handle women.

Chen, the man who picks up girls, relies on his perfectly handsome face, astonishing assets and stamina, and an inexhaustible amount of money.

The fat man dealt with women by relying on his astonishing insight into them and his ruthless core. He used sweet words and emotional manipulation skills to make women devoted to him. When Mrs. Deborah was working hard to maintain the fat man's business in Philadelphia, she probably never imagined that the fat man had at least two long-term lovers in London.

If we're really going to make a fair comparison in this respect, Chen is far inferior to the old fat man!

After all, he spent a lot of money on women, while the fat old man could get women to spend money on him and work for him.

No wonder the old fat man was able to persuade the French to place a large bet in North America in the end—this insight into and ability to exploit human nature is the old fat man's true core competitiveness.

Chen Wenbin stayed at the Franklin residence for more than an hour, subtly inquiring about many things from Mrs. Deborah. It wasn't until four o'clock in the afternoon that he took his leave and headed to Robin Estate in the western suburbs of Philadelphia.

That was the garrison of 1,200 people from the Western Immigrant Corps and the Western Legion. Adding to that the three infantry companies that came with Chen Wenbin today and a small number of immigrants, the total number was nearly 1,600!

With so many people, it's impossible for everyone to live in houses. Most of them have been living in canvas tents these days, waiting for the day they finally set off for the west.

When Chen Wenbin and Pastor Jensen arrived at the wooden fence gate surrounding the manor, they saw rows of neatly arranged white tents, and immigrant families and soldiers cooking over fires in the open space between the tents. Although there were many people, the scene was not chaotic.

Along the passageways between the tents, military police in black uniforms could be seen patrolling. They stood in rows of five, carrying short flintlock pistols and holding short wooden sticks. Their eyes scanned the soldiers waiting in line for food, and they used their sticks to stop any disorderly behavior such as making noise, cutting in line, littering, urinating, or not walking on the right.

"—James, we've arrived!"

Chen Wenbin, on horseback, raised his whip, pointed to the immigrant camp, and smiled at Pastor Jason, "It seems David, Davis, and Reinhardt are managing it well—there's no chaos here, which shows that my immigrant organization manual and management methods are truly effective!"

Pastor Jensen blinked in surprise at the orderly scene before him. Although he had already read the report, this scene still shocked him greatly.

He was silent for a few seconds before sincerely admiringly saying, "Robin, you really should have been a general, not a doctor and a businessman!"

Because you managed to transform these scattered immigrants into disciplined soldiers with just a few manuals—that's exceptional military talent!

Upon hearing this, Chen Wenbin shook his head and said, "I am not some kind of genius general. I just know some military and management knowledge. Besides, these immigrants are far from being a real army!"

For now, we're just keeping them disciplined and using sticks; they'll only be properly organized once they cross the mountains and reach the west.

A true army needs not only discipline, but also rigorous training; the next few weeks will be their first lesson!