The American embassy in Guangzhou attempted to save Lu's life by claiming that he was a translator working at the telegraph office and was not a revolutionary. However, they could not do anything when Li Zhengyong showed them a confession written by Lu himself. Lu, Zhu Guiquan (), Qiu Si () and other captured revolutionaries were executed on 7 November by the order of Tan Zhonglin. Sun Yat-sen called Lu "the first person in Chinese history who sacrificed his life for a democratic revolution".