Chapter 75: Fortresses
Kural 741
A fortress is a strategic asset both to aggressors
and to those in fear who seek defense.
Kural 742
An effective fort has crystal-clear water, arable lands,
a hill and lovely shaded woods.
Kural 743
The expert texts ordain four features for a fort's barricades:
that they be high, thick, solid and impregnable.
Kural 744
The ideal fortress is spacious, vulnerable in very few places
and, of itself, defies a determined foe's designs to storm it.
Kural 745
A good garrison is hard to assail, amply provisioned
and accommodates inmates well.
Kural 746
The most formidable fortress, stocked with all needed goods,
still needs men of good stock to fend off attack.
Kural 747
Whether by hurling artillery, tunneling beneath or encircling
to lay siege, it is impossible to capture a strong fort.
Kural 748
However forcefully assailants may press,
a secure fortress promises allies defense and foes defeat.
Kural 749
A fortress earns greatness by enabling courageous defenders
to gloriously defeat the enemy at the battle's very onset.
Kural 750
Whatever excellent qualities a fortress may possess,
it will be of no avail without men of excellent action.