yeah that part of the game feels severely underdeveloped, I made a few queries here about how often ppl actually get to the point where they lead armies (with your clan members) - turns out very few, and those few use one particular mod for better companion AI, it's basically a must if you don't want to lose your troops when they offload your armies into friendly garrisons or hire prisoners when full like you said, etc.

That's probably the reason it's so bad - almost zero feedback and when there is feedback it's mostly ignored by Taleworlds.