The weapons' range is too short, and the mountain paths are too narrow to deploy them effectively. Not only would you miss the bandits, you'd likely hit your own men.
So, in a frontal assault, the bandits on that mountain could truly hold off an army of ten thousand with just a single man at the pass.
A few hundred men guarding an entrance could hold off tens of thousands of attackers.
If you tried a war of attrition, you'd just be throwing lives away.
You've got to be kidding. Losing several thousand regular troops just to wipe out a few hundred bandits?
No one would ever make that trade!
That's why, since ancient times, the Court has basically had only one strategy for dealing with bandits.
A siege.
You won't come out, will you?
Fine, fine, fine. Then I won't go in either.
I'll just set up camp at the foot of your mountain, block the roads, and stay put.
Even if you get on your knees and beg me, I'm not going up there.
I'll just wait down here.
