You`re not talking to some newbie here boyo, I`ve played mount and blade since black knights were up and about
The point you completely missed is the AI getting free troops, by magic whereas you get to jog on, village to village to recruit them, then jog on some more to kill looter parties, good luck getting a decent fight out of them after you got to 130 troops (they`ll start surrendering like crazy), not to mention the chore of catching them while you have 150 footsoldiers... Remember, we`re talking bucelarii here, not your khuzait peasant that gets a horse at level 2.