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The story involves a famed mercenary general that will only work for those clients he deems "worthy." In reality he is working towards galactic peace using his army as a tool to reshape interstellar relations in to a more peaceful configuration. A supercomputer helps him decide which wars to fight/win to achieve that goal. A woman is involved as a potential wife as well.

This is likely an older story (1940s?) as I read it in the 1970s.

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    Any chance it's 'The Mercenary' by Jerry Pournelle? Kinda fits the bill but no supercomputer.
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 4:24
  • No. I read the Falkenberg novels and this was a short story.
    – Vicpylon
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 4:54
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    This sounds a lot like The General Series by S.M. Stirling and David Drake. Raj Whitehall discovers a Supercomputer that was left from a shattered galactic civilization. This Supercomputer has been waiting for someone to act thru to rebuild the civilization. It is able to simulate choices, consequences and time lines accurately to assist Raj Whitehall in his mission to first conquer his world and then move on to the rest of space. I don't really remember much about the potential wife though.
    – kelzak
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 15:20
  • Sounds like "The general" series by S.M. Stirling and David Drake, except for the general is not mercenary, woman is already his wife and it's from 1990s...
    – AcePL
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 15:46
  • No, I am certain it was a short story, not a series.
    – Vicpylon
    Commented Jan 18, 2017 at 4:37

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It sounds like "The Final Encyclopedia", one of the Dorsai books by Gordon R.Dickson. The Final Encyclopedia is a tremendous memory bank in Earth orbit the protagonist Hal Mayne uses as an aid to his Dorsai mercenary campaigns. Visit https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/gordon-r-dickson/final-encyclopedia.htm

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  • Again, it was a short story, not a novel.
    – Vicpylon
    Commented Jan 27, 2017 at 14:08
  • I said book not novel. Books contain short stories.
    – Walt Huffman
    Commented Feb 17, 2017 at 4:51
  • If "The Final Encyclopedia" is a short story, you may want to edit your answer to be more clear on that point. Maybe you can name the anthology in which it can be found.
    – Vanguard3000
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 20:10

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