The problem with this is that outlaws are fixed to certain maps. There is basically no overlap between the maps where you’d find Liukou and the maps where you find Wokou Ronin so they’re not a suitable replacement. The few maps such as Manchuria where they could reasonably overlap don’t currently have Wokou Pirates. Chinese Liukou would not make sense on Japanese maps such as Honshu and Hokkaido where Wokou Pirates and Kabukimono might overlap. For that reason, Wokou Ronin should be renamed to Kabukimono not removed. Even if there are a couple of instances where they could overlap.
Liukou shock infantry would pair with Wokou Pirates on the coasts of China (where there aren’t any maps currently), but if their theme was more focused on the Triads/Tiandihui, their availability could also be extended to the regions of Southeast Asia where the Triads operate.
For the Wokou Monk alternative, one possibility would be to have both a Mountain Bandit and a White Lotus Monk. The Mountain Bandit could be a more generic unit available in central Asia, China, and Japan while the White Lotus Monk could be a Chinese exclusive outlaw.
If you know the history of the late Ming Dynasty, you will know that Liukou are definitely not only present on the southeastern coast of China. Basically, maps within China proper are suitable for them.
I don’t like having the unit specifically name its organization. As long as Liukou represent the Chinese gangs, even if there is no title of Tiandihui or Triad in their name, they can still appear on the map of Southeast Asia. They can even just be named Rogues instead of Liukou, which may be used on more Asian maps.
The White Lotus Rebellion was essentially a rebellion by Liukou gangs using religion. They are still Liukou rather than monks.
The essence of blind monks is a complete stereotype. Keeping them might as well introduce Kung Fu Panda (pet).
I have another question, China is the Qing Dynasty, why recruit Manchus instead of training Manchus, this is very strange. I propose that the Manchus should be turned into aboriginal tribes rather than appearing as mercenaries.
Same. Blind Monk is just the treasure guardian version of Wokou Monk.
The point is, the rebels of the White Lotus are not real monks, but Liukou who use the name of religion, or peasants who became Liukou.
Rebellions in the name of religion, such as the White Lotus Rebellion, the Nian Rebellion, or the Taiping Rebellion, are not like the religious wars in Europe, but more just use religious superstition to incite the people. Many of those insurgents were not really uprising for religion.
This can’t solve the problem.
The problem with Manchus becoming mercenaries is that they are nobles of the Qing Dynasty, but they can be used by other civs to fight against the Qing Dynasty. If they become a native tribe, this is still the case. Besides, they should be one of the cores of Chinese civ and should not be natives, just like when the Iroquois, Sioux and Aztecs became the civs, their minor civs were replaced with the Hurons, Cheyennes and Zapotecs.
In my opinion, the Manchus should become something like the Spahi or the Urumi Swordsmen, powerful unique units shipped from home city for Chinese. Or, put them into the potential Chinese isolationist option of the consulate. In short, let them be units that can only be used by Chinese civ.
On the other hand, Mongolian Horsemen can be created to replace the previous mercenary position of the Manchus. This would be a reasonable choice since the Mongols had rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and Russians used the Siberian Mongols.
It’s a good idea to make Manchus be something like Spahi. Original Manchu mercenaries could have their name change to Nomad Horse Archer or something similar.
Now that the Wokou Pirate has been redesigned as a shock infantry, why not take the opportunity to rename it Liukou, and rename Wokou Ronin to Wokou or Kabukimono, to give them a more decent and recognizable name? I’m still looking forward to the renaming of Wokou Horseman to Mazei or Xiangmazei, the change or removal of Wokou Monk, and the introduction of Mountain Bandit.
By the way, as I have described in this thread of mine that I often refer to, I also remain hopeful that Japanese isolationism and potential Chinese isolationism in Consulates should provide unique consulate units rather than consulate versions of renamed general units like European allies. Therefore, Hatamoto should be a different unit from Ronin, not the consulate version of Ronin. Their appearance should also be exclusive to one of them.