While Yang Yan was chancellor, he had demoted Yan Ying () the mayor of Jingzhao Municipality (京兆, i.e., the Chang'an region) because he disliked Yan Ying. Lu, knowing this, had Yan Ying made the chief imperial censor (御史大夫, "Yushi Daifu"). At Lu's direction, Yan Ying soon exposed an incident in which Yang had asked Zhao Huibo () the mayor of Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the Luoyang region) to sell Yang's mansion for him—and, at Yan's manipulation, this incident was increased in severity from the lesser charge of conflict of interest to embezzlement. Meanwhile, Lu also secretly told Emperor Dezong that Yang had built his family shrine on land that was said to be greatly blessed, and accused Yang of intending to try to become emperor himself. In winter 781, Emperor Dezong demoted and exiled Yang to the post of military advisor to the prefect of the extremely remove Yai Prefecture (崖州, in modern Sanya, Hainan). However, even before Yang reached Yai Prefecture, Emperor Dezong sent executioners to intercept him and execute him.