Zhang Qian first set out on his mission, he was accompanied by over one hundred men, but after thirteen years abroad, only he and Kanfu managed to make their way back to China.

information he related to the emperor on his return....  

mountain trails that lead through the territory of the Qiang people, they will be molested by the Qiang, whlie if we send them a little farther north, they will be captured by the Xiongnu.  It would seem that the most direct route, as well as the safest, would be that out of Shu.  

were militarily weak and prized Han goods and wealth

If it were only possible to win over these states by peaceful means, the emperor thought,

three living creatures are slaughtered for curry

However, Plato later began to develop his own philosophy and the Socrates of the later dialogues does more teaching than he does questioning. The fundamental aspect of Plato's thought is the theory of "ideas" or "forms."

human beings up based on their innate intelligence, strength, and courage. Those who are not overly bright, or strong, or brave, are suited to various productive professions: farming, smithing, building, etc. Those who are somewhat bright, strong, and especially courageous are suited to defensive and policing professions. Those who are extraordinarily intelligent, virtuous, and brave, are suited to run the state itself; that is, Plato's ideal state is an aristocracy, a Greek word which means "rule by the best." The lower end of human society, which, as far as Plato is concerned, consists of an overwhelming majority of people in a state, he calls the "producers

The Allegory of the Cave and the Divided Line:

The intelligible world contains the eternal "Forms" (

le by moral example () instead of by force and violence; and so forth. Confucius thought that a ruler who had to resort to force had already failed as a ruler -- "Your job is to govern, not to kill" (Analects XII:19). This was not a principle that Chinese rulers always obeyed, but it was the ideal of benevolent () rule

. Confucius thought that government by laws and punishments could keep people in line, but government by example of virtue () and good manners () would enable them to control themselves (Analects II:3). "The way the wind blows, that's the way the grass bends" (Analects XII:19). Self-control, indeed, is the basis of all the industrious virtues that have made the Chinese people economically successful whenever they have been allowed to prosper, whether in California, Malaya, or China

Ashur and the great gods who have enlarged my kingdom, who have given me strength and power as my portion, commanded me to extend the territory of their (the gods') country, putting into my hand their powerful weapons, the cyclone of battle.

With sixty kings I fought, spreading terror (among them), and achieved a glorious victory over them.

In the beginning of my government, five kings . . . with an army of twenty thousand men . . .--and whose power no king had ever broken and overcome in battle--trusting to their strength rushed down and conquered the land of Qummuh (Commagene).

shur, my lord

Like the Thunderer (the storm god Adad) I crushed the corpses of their warriors in the battle that caused their overthrow. I made their blood to flow over all the ravines and high places of mountains.

In terms of the smelting process itself, the temperature threshold would be relatively easy to achieve and sustain. 

Tin may have represented the breakthrough metal.

The mining process at Göltepe began by heating the mine face. Fires would soften the ore so that it could be chiseled more easily.  Once the ore had been hauled to the surface it was smelted. Smelting involved heating in small ceramic crucibles.  Charcoal, which was layered between the tin ore, provided the heat source. Temperatures may have reached 2,000 degrees F, possibly achieved through the use of reed pipe "bellows."

miners of Göltepe found the tin market sustained by the demand for bronze

Some date its beginnings to 1500 B.C., about the time the Hittites may have started working with iron.  Others give it a range of between 1500 and 1000 B.C.. Still others have dated it to 1200 B.C., when the Hittite Empire came to an end. Others assign its beginnings to around 1000 B.C., some 200 years after the end of the Hittite Empire.  The basis for such a comparatively late date is that iron usage had become commonplace around the Mediterranean by that time. The start of the Iron Age also depended on location. 

While gold articles and the work of ancient goldsmiths are the most enduring and familiar treasures of the ancient world, the likelihood of an Age of Gold is extremely remote. The experience and skills of early craftsmen demonstrated a thorough knowledge of metalworking. Unfortunately, the scarcity of gold limited the market to ornamental items, since only kings or wealthy individuals could afford it.

That would be a remarkable achievement, given what one would expect from an ancient technology.  However, there may be two other factors which might impact any analysis.  The first is the fact that while the melting temperature of pure iron is something of an absolute, the addition of carbon, (a process known as carburization), can reduce the melting point to about 1170 degrees C (2138 degrees F).  A second factor is the possibility that iron could be produced and worked at a temperature below its melting point.

A Neanderthal dead-end or a continuing tradition

Oxygen is not the only impurity found in iron ore.  Some can be removed with limestone, which, like a reducing agent, will combine with such impurities, lowering their melting point.  The slag which forms separates from the iron and floats to the surface.

The Hittites appear to have produced an iron which could be reheated and worked, suggesting that their product was a form of wrought iron or some version similar to carbon steel.  Charcoal was used as the reducing agent, layered with the iron ore in shallow hearths

Hittite iron makers involved the amount of carbon to be added

malleability.