Chapter 164: The Great Bluffer vs The Old Fox

"This is fantastic! Those damned pirates are finally going to be..."

Jefferson, who was in charge of the United States's foreign affairs, had barely begun to express his excitement when he was interrupted by Franklin's feeble chuckle, "Heh heh, Mr. Envoy, I presume there's something you've omitted to mention? Surely the French Navy wouldn't mobilize to such an extent just for our modest few merchant ships."

Franklin was indeed an old fox—during the American War of Independence, he had darted between England and France, using the threat of France to pressure England and the lure of England to entice France. Especially since he had conned Louis XVI into granting tens of millions of livres in loans, as well as a great quantity of military supplies and tens of thousands of French soldiers, which sustained the independence movement of the thirteen United States.

He was not so easily fooled as the young Jefferson.

Talleyrand nodded with a smile,