In 1838 as result of the smallpox epidemic in which he lost many of his warriors, Soshangane and his followers returned to their earlier home, Bileni in the Limpopo valley, leaving his son Mzila to place the area north of the Zambezi under his tribute. He stayed at Musapa for about three years. By the time that Soshangana returned to settle in the Limpopo valley, he had brought not only all the Tsonga chiefdoms of the interior under his control, but he had also subjected many of the Tonga in the immediate neighbourhood of Inhambane. Having said that, the Gaza empire was known to be extensive and this couldn't have happened without the conquest of large populations of these groups.