When the envoys of the Khaqan of China brought word of a proposed royal alliance to Khosrow Anushirvan, the King of Kings ordered his scribe to draft a magnificent reply. The letter opened with profound homage to Yazdan, the victorious Almighty whose command sustains the cosmos, raising the humble to the heavens and leaving the wicked to their fate. Khosrow expressed his joy at the Khaqan's goodwill and the promise of a maiden born of noble lineage, announcing that he was sending a counselor of supreme wisdom to finalize the holy bond.
Once the scribe sealed the parchment with musked wax and the King bestowed astonished eyes upon the opulent robes of honor granted to the Chinese envoys, Khosrow selected Mehran-Setad—a veteran statesman renowned for wisdom and nobility—to lead the embassy, accompanied by one hundred eloquent and illustrious Iranian knights. The King summoned Mehran-Setad and imparted critical counsel: he urged him to rely on soft speech and penetrating wisdom, cautioning him never to be deceived by mere facial beauty or superficial ornament. He instructed Mehran-Setad to scrutinize the Khaqan's inner court and choose only a princess of genuine modesty and immaculate heritage—one whose mother was the supreme Khatun herself, bearing the noble blood of both the Faghfur and the Khaqan, for a daughter born of a handmaiden could never grace the throne of Iran.
Offering praises to the King's throne, Mehran-Setad departed on the auspicious day of Khordad alongside his noble retinue. Word swiftly crossed the borders into the realm of China that Mehran-Setad and the grand embassy of Iran were drawing near.