The Lord of Lancaster does so much damage. You have to respect it and pull the villagers away. Don't try to heal with Scholars, just pull them.

The War Elephant is a stopping stone against Hobelar raiding and demands respect.

Hobelar are lower-end horsemen compared to Ghazi Raiders, which are higher-end.

You can go stable straight into a blacksmith, prioritize melee upgrades, and punish excessive greed from Lancaster with a dive. Pull injured Gazi raiders out from under those Manners. You can get a lot of damage done that way, even start torching down those Manners. Two spears can't really do too much work in stopping upwards of 10-15 Gazi raiders.

You're not going to get too much value from early Gazi raiders against Lancaster because of the spearmen, the Lancaster Castle, and Manners. You're likely not going to get very severely contested on those sacred sites. So even with a later investment into units, you will still get a triple site lockdown.