정조는 12년에 노·소론, 남인 중에서 삼정승을 임명하는 탕평을 이루었고, 13년에는 수원에 사도세자의 묘를 遷園하였으며, 14년에 新邑을 조성하였고, 같은 해에 王子를 낳았다. 왕실의 후사문제가 안정된 후, 사도세자 신원상소가 다시 올라왔다. 정조 16년 영남남인의 萬人疏와 소론의 南學疏였다. 앞서 정조는 즉위년인 병신년에 소론과 남인의 ‘사도세자 신원상소사건’이 일어나자 그들에게 ‘丙申處分’을 내리고, 『명의록』을 간행한 일이 있었다. 정조는 ‘壬子處分’으로 과거의 사건들이 왕위계승 과정에서 발생한 문제가 아닌 ‘壬午禍變’까지 연관된 문제라고 밝혔다. 이는 즉위년에 노·소론, 남인세력의 정치적 사안을 대립시켜서 해결했던 ‘以熱治熱’하여 ‘兩治兩解’한 방식의 政局運用術이었다. 정조 17년 정조는 영조 연간의 ‘辛壬義理’를 붙잡고 있던 노론과 소론세력에게 ‘임오화변’의 ‘壬午義理’와 『명의록』의 의리가 일맥상통한다는 동의와 공감을 요구하였다. 그러면서 앞선 사건들에 연루되어 몰락했던 가문과 인물들에 대한 대대적인 赦免令을 내렸고, 정계에 진출할 수 있도록 疏通시켜 주었다. 노·소론세력 내에서는 정조의 의도에 강력히 반발하는 세력과 수긍하는 세력이 나뉘었고, 남인 채제공이 영조의 의중을 담은 『금등』을 내보이자 일단락되었다. 한편 정조의 최측근이었던 소론 鄭東浚 등이 도리어 정조에게 반대하는 세력으로써 처벌을 받았다. 정조 19년 화성에 행차하여 혜경궁 홍씨의 환갑잔치를 마친 후, 20년에 소론 성덕우·정호인이 노론 외척 홍수영·홍낙임과 관련되었다는 혐의로 처벌을 받았다. 정조의 정국운용방식은 戚臣·家門·親分·혈연·학연 등으로 복잡하게 맞물려있던 각각의 정치세력들과 정치적 사건들에 대해 같은 색목과 당파, 집안·형제·부자지간을 ‘以水治熱’의 방식으로 모조리 처분하지 않고, ‘이열치열’의 방식으로 나누어 처분함으로써 世臣과 世家를 보호하며, 調停하고 진정시켰던 것이었다. 그러나 6월 정조의 갑작스런 죽음으로 僻派政權이 형성되었다. 순조 1년 벽파정권은 노론 외척 풍산 홍씨 세력, 종친 은언군과 노·소론, 남인 내 추숭 세력 중 서유린·심노숭·윤행임 등과 정동준세력에 대해서 西學을 빌미로 한 ‘辛酉迫害’ 또는 ‘辛酉獄事’를 일으켜서 토죄·징토를 단행하였다. 순조 3년 정순왕후의 철렴 이후, 새로운 외척세력이 된 안동 김문 김조순 집안과 노론 시파 영의정 이병모와 소론 이시수 등이 연합하여 벽파정권에 대한 반격을 도모하였다. 순조 4년 순조의 국혼을 방해한 혐의로 金觀柱와 鄭日煥의 사주를 받은 권유가 대역부도죄로 심문을 받았다. 순조 5년 ‘김달순 사건’은 순조 6년(1806) ‘丙寅更化’로 이어져서 벽파정권을 몰락에 이르게 하였다. 이로써 순조 초반 벽파정권에 참여한 세력에 대한 토죄·징토의 처분과 폐고되었던 세력의 정계진출과 신원이 다시 이루어지게 된다.
In his 12th year in the throne, King Jeongjo appointed individuals from three different parties(Noron, Soron, Namin) to the seat of the Three Ministers. In the next year he moved the grave of his father(the late Crown prince Sado) to the Suweon area, built a new town around it the year after that, and had a son in the same year. With the issue concerning his successor finally resolved, appeals requesting the restoration of Sado’s honor began to be submitted again to the king. Most representative examples of such requests were the Manin-so(萬人疏) appeal submitted from the Yeongnam region’s Namin figures in the 16th year of Jeongjo’s reign, and the Namhak-so(南學疏) appeal raised by the Soron faction members the same year. In the past, immediately after Jeongjo’s enthronement(the Byeongshin-year), a political controversy had formed when Soron and Namin figures submitted relatively same requests, and king Jeongjo had to punish them with charges that they hurt the king’s leadership as well as its stability it should maintain. The punishment was called ‘the Ruling of the Byeongshin-year(Byeongshin Cheobun, 丙申處分)’ and a Myeong’eui-rok annal was published. In his 16th year, The punishment was called ‘the Ruling of the Imja-year(Imja Cheobun, 壬子處分)’, Jeongjo wanted to clarify that the said incident was not caused by the enthronement itself, and was a controversy whose seeds were actually sown during the “Purge of the Imo-year(Imo Hwabyeon, 壬午禍變).” This was essentially an intentional act of putting Noron figures and Soron figures at odds with each other, thus enabling to king to control them both and maintain order in the government. A quintessential display of leadership based upon the strategy of “Controling fire with fire” or “Managing both, and resolving both.” In his 17th year, Jeongjo demanded that Noron and Soron members – who were still clinging on to the Cause of the Shin/Im years(辛壬義理) - should acknowledge the fact that the Cause of the Imo-year(壬午義理) and the goal of Myeong’eui-rok indeed shared the same sentiment and goals. He also issued a wide pardon for all the individuals and houses that had fallen after being implicated in the aforementioned political incidents, and gave them permission to apply for a seat inside the government. Members of both Noron and Soron parties were divided, between a group which strongly opposed Jeongjo’s such stance, and a group which recognized its sincerity. Chae Je-gong, who was from the Southerner party revealed the Geumdeung text which supposedly contained former king Yeongjo’s intentions, and that was when the controversy began to tone down. Meanwhile, Jeong Dong-jun(鄭東浚), who was from the Soron party and was also one of Jeongjo’s most trusted advisors, was punished for opposing Jeongjo’s agenda too strongly. In his 19th year, Jeongjo traveled to Hwaseong, attended a banquet commemorating his mother’s 60th birthday, and the next year punished Soron figures Seong Deog-wu and Jeong Ho-in for being affiliated with Hong Su-yeong and Hong Nag-im, who were Noron figures as well as in-laws to the royal family. This kind of a political maneuver was facing an arena which was filled with all kind of people connected to each other via friendship, kinship and clans, academic partnership, and political sharing of fates. In order to navigate through all them, he had to develop and nurture new political factions through which he could exact his own leadership. Yet Jeongjo died in June that year, and when Queen Jeongsun began to oversee the government, changes continued. In the first year of King Sunjo’s reign, the Byeok-pa sect engineered a purge, and expelled the Southerner members claiming they embraced Western (Christian, 西學) studies in the “Shin’yu-year purge(‘辛酉迫害’),” and drove out the Pungsan Hong House (an in-law house, aligned with the Noron party) as well as Eun’eon-gun, member of the royal family, in the “Shin’yu-year incarceration(‘辛酉獄事’).” Only in the 6th year of Sunjo’s reign, when the Byeok-pa sect collapsed, the Shi-pa sects regained control of the government. This enabled people armed with the agenda to reenter the government and have their honor restored.