Sometimes the game can be outright stupid though with generating rebels as I fought against one rebellion with 2 units of Feudal Men At Arms and about 8 units of naptha throwers. It was ridiculous I took out half of the naptha throwers with one unit of Hobilars stretched as thin as possible and set to charge past their close formations.

Here is one awesome trip with training your generals though... rebellions generate in numbers comparable to the number of men you have in that region. Leave one unit in a troublesome area and you might see 2 units of spearmen appear... beat those spearmen with that one unit and you will be rewarded with a command star and possible bravery virtues for fighting off greater numbers... even if you have 40 feudal knights killing 200 spearmen. You can do this a few times and as long as you leave a very small garrison you won't face much opposition.

Actually, if you leave a side province in a rebellious state what you might get is a faction re-emergence if it is on conquered territory which is an entirely different matter. These guys come back with 3 or 4 stacks of high quality troops which will give your generals plenty of practice.