Word reached Mahuy Suri that the body of Shahanshah Yazdegerd had been retrieved from the stream by the bishop, priests, and monks of Rum, who had entombed him with high honors inside a garden vault elevated above the mountainside. Filled with malice, the wretched Mahuy proclaimed that Iran had no kinship with Rum, and dispatched his soldiers to slaughter every artisan who built the tomb and every soul who had mourned the falling of the king, plundering the entire domain.
Looking across the devastated realm, the shepherd-born usurper realized that no highborn heirs of the royal lineage remained. Holding the crown and signet ring of the late king, base ambition ignited within him. He summoned his closest confidants and confessed his despair: having neither ancient blood nor treasury, no wise man would acknowledge him as Shah. His cunning counselor devised a shameless deception, advising him to gather the elders and declare: 'When the Turkish host advanced in the dark of night, King Yazdegerd summoned me and gave me his signet and crown, bidding me preserve his heritage and never surrender the throne to the invader.'
Delighted by this treacherous stratagem, Mahuy assembled the military commanders and delivered the fabricated tale. Though the captains immediately recognized the lie and knew that his insolence deserved death, cowardice and cynicism prevailed, with one chief declaring: 'Be it true or false, this matter is thine.' Thus, through deception and sorcery, Mahuy ascended the throne and seized control of Khorasan.
Upon entrenching his rule, Mahuy divided the realm, bestowing Balkh and Herat upon his eldest son. True to his ignoble origin, he elevated evil and vile men to authority throughout the provinces while casting the wise into ruin and ignominy. As righteousness collapsed, decay overspread the realm. Mahuy enriched his host with coin and dispatched a newly equipped army under the veteran commander Garestun toward Amuy and Bukhara, setting his sights on Samarqand and Chach to wage war against Bizan.