In Patriot, Yan was originally a person's name, but later it gradually became a code name.
Yan was originally a surgeon. After the fall of Northeast China, he abandoned medicine to join the army and began to attack the Japanese invaders. He has blocked and destroyed Japanese aggression many times and is regarded as a national hero by the people in Northeast China. Yan's deeds spread to the underground party in China. The underground party Song Yanqiao and others went to the northeast to find Yan, hoping to absorb him as party member.
However, Yan was injured in a guerrilla war and later died of his injuries. Before he died, he gave his gun, horse and all his beliefs to Song Yanqiao and entrusted him to drive the Japanese out of China as soon as possible. From then on, Song Yanqiao borrowed the name of "Yan" and became the second generation descendant of Yan.
After Song Yanqiao became a Yan, he recruited soldiers in the countryside and established the "Yan detachment of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Democratic Coalition", which made great contributions to the fight against Japanese aggressors.
In the last episode of the TV series, Song Yanqiao was framed by a spy and had to disperse all his troops, but unfortunately, the scattered troops were broken by the Japanese army one by one, and only a few remnants were able to escape. Yan dragged a Japanese brigade alone for three days and nights with amazing perseverance, and finally died because of physical exhaustion.
Many years later, Shu Jie followed the Soviet Red Army back to the northeast. When he was about to enter the northeast, he was blocked by a mysterious force and could not move forward. Shu Jie shouted with a megaphone asking the other party to report the combat serial number. At this time, she saw a banner on the other side of the army, which impressively read "Yan detachment of Northeast Anti-Japanese Democratic Coalition". It turns out that Yan's spirit is not dead, and his men have been fighting. The banner of strictness has deeply entered the hearts of the people of China.