well, the general thing is not a real solution; come on, you make it sound as if it's so easy to get generals with huge bonuses to order !
sure, I can make them get 10 command stars in a few turns, that's easy, but you have no control over order vices...
Besides, you'll never have enough generals with order bonuses to fill all your big (and therefore rebellious) cities...
That's just wishful thinking, but I'm pretty sure it's not realistic.
However, I don't really like what is currently known as the best solution: let them rebel, then exterminate them. I mean, of all the possible ways to manage an empire, this seems one of the weirdest ones... (not to mention that it's not historically accurate, but more importantly I finid it a little strange that your overall managing strategy should be raze & burn and then rebuild, then repeat)