The exigencies of the day called for the successful use of military skills by those who were appointed to "shugo" posts. As in vassalage ties between the Ashikaga shōguns and the local samurai, the tie between the shōguns and the "shugo" lords was intermediary in a similar sense: in the world of competing loyalties, the Ashikaga shōguns by appointing warriors to "shugo" posts endeavored to tie these men closer to themselves. The successful generals, who were at the same time branch family heads who had cast in their lot with Takauji's rebellion, were the ones often rewarded with the post. The cost of not tying them to the regime was to lose their support, and to encourage their independence from the regime.