Leadership to low? (problems in the mines)

[Ezrael]

Right, so this is my first time playing King's Bounty and it seems I'm getting stuck in the Taron Mines. Most enemies are really tough and especially the Dragons are giving me a headache.

I'm a paladin playing on normal mode and I was wondering if my leadership is a problem. Currently I'm level 16 and have 5559 leadership. I've picked up every flag I could find up until this point. However, I've red posts from people claiming they have almost double my amount of leadership/mages saying they're up to 7k at my level.

So that got me wondering: have I done something wrong/missed something? Is there a way to salvage my situation? Currently my army is:

27 Shamans
55 Inquisitors.
21 Alchemists
25 Canoneers
91 Royal Snakes

77 mana, 62 rage