Historically, Emperor Go-Nara died in September of the third year of Koji (1557), and the body of Emperor Go-Nara was laid to rest at the Kuroto Imperial Palace for two and a half months before the funeral could be held. It is for this reason that the new Emperor Shokincho officially succeeded to the throne after the funeral, which was already in 1558. It was only after the succession to the throne that the Imperial Palace and the Shogunate officially announced that on February 28, 1558, the era name was changed from "Koji" to "Eiroku".

Only this time, thanks to the timely support of the Luo family, the funeral of Emperor Gonara was held in early October 1557, and at the end of December 1557, Emperor Shokincho, who had officially succeeded to the throne, also held a solemn succession ceremony, so January 1, 1558 was designated as the beginning of the "first year of Eiroku", more than two months earlier than in history.

In March of the first year of Eiroku, after completely inheriting the throne of the emperor, Emperor Shokincho quickly returned the favor to the Luo family. On March 18, 1558, an envoy from Emperor Shokin-cho visited the Rashi family again. At this time, the territory of the Luo family in the western province of Honshu Island had been completely pacified, and the local area was preparing for spring ploughing, and Masayo, who had been away from Kyushu for a while, had also returned to Hizen Province in Kyushu.

In the Gakufu Castle of Hizen Province, Masara personally received the envoy this time. According to the reports of the people from Kyoto who entered the academy city one step in advance, this time the people under the emperor's command almost broke their heads in order to compete for the position of the envoy to the Luo family. Previously, Kyogoku Takayoshi's envoy was to hope that the Luo family, who was in the midst of a struggle, would negotiate peace with the Maori family, which was obviously a matter that offended the Luo family. So no one wanted to be a messenger at that time. In the end, everyone had no choice but to nominate Kyogoku Takayoshi, who came to mediate and negotiate peace, as a messenger. The results seem unsuccessful. And it was easy to offend the Luo family's errand, but it was completed by Jingji Gaoji, and he also got a lot of benefits, which naturally made everyone red.

Now this time it is completely to give benefits to the Luo family, and naturally it will get more benefits from the Luo family, so it is strange that everyone does not fight for it. It's just that after some fighting, in the end, it was Konoe who was hard enough in the background and had many connections to get this good errand for a long time. As the five regents (regents, the highest family in the imperial court of the emperor's family. It is a family that can be promoted through official positions such as Dainayan, Right Minister, Left Minister, etc., and finally becomes a regent, Sekihaku and other high-ranking families, and the five regents are the descendants of the Konoe family, the Kujo family, the Eagle Family, the Nijo Family, and the Ichijo Family), and the Konoe Maehisa is very good at waka and renge, and the level of calligraphy, equestrianism, and falconry hunting is even more outstanding, and it is a famous celebrity among the ministers of Kyoto. At this time, Konoe was already the official minister of the left office, and soon after he was promoted to the highest position in the imperial court.

And as far as Masara knew, not long after, Echigo's Nagao Keitora (later Uesugi Kenshin) Kamiro, Konoe Maehisa and Nagao Keitora took care of each other and made an alliance with the blood book. Form alliances. From the time Konoe assumed the post of Sekihaku in the 3rd year of Eiroku (1560), he went to Echigo. He contributed a lot to the strategy of the Ueno Province and the Lower General Country in the Kanto Pacification War. It is not a loss to a Sengoku family full of action. With such a hot-blooded Kyoto minister, the Luo family naturally has to work hard, maybe they will need his help in the future.

In the residence of the daimyo of Gakufu Castle, after meeting with Konoe Maehisa, Konoe Maehisa as an envoy immediately held a reward ceremony:

"I have heard recently, there is a Western samurai Luo clan Zhengliang, loyalty, bravery, benevolence and righteousness...... "In the Daimyo Mansion, Konoe sat on the main seat for a long time, and the retainers of the Luo family in the school were on both sides. Masarashi himself knelt in the middle of the hall and bowed to Konoe Maejiu, as if he was listening respectfully to the 'Heavenly Descending Sound'.

Konoe Maehisamoto was also dressed very solemnly, and he read the last sentence with an unusually solemn expression: "...... Today, I am awarded the position of the royal companion, and I hope to fulfill my loyalty and not live up to my hopes! ”

"Minister, thank the emperor for his grace!" After giving the salute, Masayo passed the holy decree in the hands of Konoe Qianjiu.

What is the royal companion? In fact, it corresponds to the regent, the highest official rank of the government, and it is one of the family names of the shogunate. The family character of the shogunate is roughly as follows: the royal offerings, the retainers of the family since the honorable family, can eat with the general; The outward multitude, the kingdom holds the multitude; The country holds the public, and the Ashikaga family has a high merit and is the guardian of a great country, but he is not appointed as the person who accompanies the people and the leader.

As for the Imperial Companions, it was the highest floor of the Shogunate's family and could be eaten with the shogun. With the recognition of the emperor and the shogunate, Masarashi could serve as the shogun in the future.

It's just that it is strange to Masaro that Konoe came to represent the emperor's side a long time ago, but the reward was the family character of the shogunate, which seems a bit incompatible. Could it be that at this time, because he lived in seclusion in the Omi Kuchiki Valley, he could not officially send an envoy, so Ashikaga Yoshiki handed it over to Konoe, who represented the emperor this time.

But why is Ashikaga Yoshiteru suddenly like this? You know, the Luo family had previously ordered a Moritaka stationed in the Kyoto area to operate at full strength, hoping to get the family character of the royal companion, but Ashikaga Yoshiteru has never let go. Now, at this time, they have joined forces with the emperor to reward the family character that the Luo family needs?

Masarashi immediately thought of the information sent by Moritaka earlier, which mentioned that Miyoshi Chokei and his son seemed to be forcing Ashikaga Yoshiteru to reward the royal companions to their father and son. From this point of view, Ashikaga Yoshiki rewarded himself with the royal companions before the Miyoshi Chokei father and son, on the one hand, he deliberately made the Miyoshi Chokei father and son ugly, and on the other hand, he deliberately made the Luo family represented by Masayoshi compare with the Miyoshi family, and deliberately hinted to the Miyoshi Chokei father and son that their father and son were actually not as good as Masayoshi! Thinking about it this way, Ashikaga Yoshiteru's move is really ruthless, which is to prevent the Luo family from befriending the Miyoshi family in the future, and even intentionally make the Luo family and the Miyoshi family collide.

It's just that Ashikaga Yoshiteru's chess piece is actually a bit redundant, at this time, the Miyoshi family, under the leadership of the four brothers of Miyoshi Chokei, has successively touched the Awaji country, Awa country, and Sanuki country, and at this time, it is even more in Yamashiro country, Yamato country, Iga country, Kawachi country, Izumi country, Settsu country and Kii country and other places to expand their power, and there is a tendency to control and Shikoku. In this way, if Zhengliang plans to go to Luo in the future, no matter which path he takes, he will meet the Miyoshi family who is in its heyday. And with the attitude of the Miyoshi family to control Kyoto at this time, and the internal system of the Luo family at this time, it is obviously incompatible, so the two families will fight a big war no matter what, so Ashikaga Yoshiteru took the trouble to provoke the relationship between the Luo family and the Miyoshi family. (To be continued......)