He was just far too green. I believe I already said so in the previous chapter's comments. It doesn't matter if he himself is much stronger, it only adds to the overall strength. He still needs to choose and plan his battles. The problem is that he had no idea how to manage his forces. He also realised that himself in this chapter, yet he decided to choose the opposite path: To not learn and instead abandon the troops. Not to mention he's also disrespecting his troops by thinking that since they aren't as strong as he his, they are lacking conviction and determination. The only thing they lacked was a leader worthy of leading them. Will could have been that if he hadn't got ahead of himself. Too bad he didn't have a smart advisor/mentor in leadership.
Bee certainly knew how to choose the most hurtful words. I wonder who trained her to strike like that.