”The following year, it was taken to pieces and sent to Amer

”The following year, it was taken to pieces and sent to American“ 中的the following year的作用new concept English中第二册第93课中有一句话：“The following year, it was taken to pieces and sent to American”,中的The following year在句中的成份有点看不懂.因为我认为此句不可能是双主语,本句中的主语"it"指的是“statue”,the following year在此只能起修饰作用,应该是时间短语,但不明白为什么不是以带介词形式的介词短语方式出现呢?例如"In the following year, it was taken to pieces and sent to American."如果加个In 我没有疑惑了.