As the soldiers of Qin approached, the people of the Lingnan region held their breath, tensing up.
In their eyes, the moment for action had arrived.
Perhaps in the next instant, they would charge out and kill these Qin soldiers.
For such a life-or-death moment, they naturally attached great importance to it.
As the Qin soldiers drew nearer, they began counting in their hearts.
"Five!"
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!!"
Upon reaching one, the people of Lingnan let out a great shout:
"Attack!!"
The instant they shouted "Attack," they revealed themselves and pulled on the vines.
At the other end of their vines were their mechanisms.
They pulled the vines, intending to hoist the Qin soldiers up.
However, as soon as their hands touched the vines, before they could even pull, the repeating crossbows in the hands of the Qin soldiers had already locked onto them.
Then, without any warning, they pulled their triggers, unleashing their arrows.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
A torrent of arrows shot out in an instant, engulfing the people of Lingnan.
In the next moment, many of them were hit by arrows on the spot.
Many, having taken multiple arrows, lost their footing and were shot to the ground.
The others, though not shot to the ground, were all killed on the spot.
This turn of events was entirely unexpected by the people of Lingnan.
When they saw their people being killed in an instant, many of them felt disbelief.
Fear, without them realizing it, crept into their hearts.
"How is this possible? How can they shoot so fast??"
"Their bows and arrows are so strange, they can shoot arrows so quickly that our people can't even react!!"
"We're in big trouble this time; it seems we've provoked a tough opponent!!"
The appearance of the repeating crossbows completely surpassed the understanding of the people of Lingnan.
Before, when they saw the Qin soldiers arrayed against them, they had thought themselves significantly stronger.
Now, as they clashed, they were stunned to realize that their perceived strength was merely an illusion.
In terms of true strength, they were not only weaker than the Qin soldiers but significantly so.
The reason Lin Tian had treated them with such caution was not due to their actual combat strength.
Rather, it was due to his respect for the natural climate of the Lingnan region.
The natural climate here was very different from other places.
The poisonous miasma and insects were things the soldiers of Great Qin had never encountered.
This was why Lin Tian was so wary.
As for the combat effectiveness of the people here, to be honest, they lacked even proper weapons. If it came down to actual fighting, their combat strength was not very impressive.
It was precisely because of this that the people of Lingnan felt they were in trouble.
They found that the repeating crossbows in the hands of the Qin soldiers were already difficult for them to deal with.
Thus, they were in a predicament, unsure of what to do for a moment.
This caused many of their gazes to fall upon their leader.
Clearly, they hoped their leader could provide them with a reasonable course of action.
Seeing their gazes, their leader pondered for a few breaths before speaking:
"We cannot get too close to them. Once we are too close, we risk being shot down on the spot!!"
"Therefore, we should use our bows and arrows from a distance to eliminate them!!"
"We'll use bows and arrows too??"
"Yes! We'll use bows and arrows too. Although we can't shoot as fast as they can, our bows and arrows are for hunting, and their power is definitely greater than theirs!!"
After saying this, the leader did not hesitate to draw his bow and arrow, preparing to engage the Qin soldiers.
Their current distance was not close, but it was sufficient for them to shoot.
It was precisely for this reason that they hesitated no further, revealed themselves, and began shooting arrows at the Qin soldiers.
This process was not slow; these Lingnan people were skilled hunters.
Therefore, in terms of speed, they far surpassed ordinary soldiers.
However, even so, the moment they revealed themselves, the Qin soldiers spotted them.
At the same time, shouts arose.
"Dodge!!"
At this shout, many instinctively dodged.
They knew that they had already attacked the people of Lingnan, and under such circumstances, the people of Lingnan would naturally retaliate.
Therefore, it was very normal for the people of Lingnan to attack them.
And as they dodged, the people of Lingnan loosed their arrows.
These arrows were shot out as if at animals, and there was naturally no problem with that.
Because ordinary animals do not know how to dodge.
Even if there were trees nearby, they would not necessarily know to hide behind them.
But humans were different.
The moment the people of Lingnan shot their arrows, the soldiers of Great Qin instantly hid behind the large trees.
After hiding behind the trees, the arrows shot by the people of Lingnan became useless.
Their arrows embedded themselves in the trees but caused no harm to the soldiers of Great Qin.
Not only that, but the moment they attacked, they revealed their positions.
This made their situation even more precarious.
"Since they have already made their move, it is time for us to counterattack. Brothers, charge!!"
"Yes!!"
As long as the people of Lingnan did not use poisonous insects or gas to ambush the soldiers of Great Qin, the soldiers of Great Qin had no reason to fear these Lingnan commoners.
Although their combat effectiveness was stronger than that of ordinary people, they were still far from a proper army.
Especially since many of them had not received professional training.
Their coordination relied mostly on their accumulated tacit understanding.
This tacit understanding might be useful for a time, but it would lose its effectiveness once the battle became fierce.
Just like the current situation, as the soldiers of Qin charged towards the commoners of Lingnan, these commoners grew anxious.
In their anxiety, they didn't know how to coordinate.
The soldiers of Qin, however, coordinated exceptionally well.
As they advanced, they pushed forward in an orderly manner.
At the same time, they blocked the escape routes of the Lingnan commoners, leaving them no way to flee.
In just an instant, they had gained control of the entire situation.
This control was a desperate situation for the commoners of Lingnan.
Upon realizing the gravity of the situation, many of them turned pale.
"This is bad, something truly terrible is about to happen. We might not make it back!!"