Its only choice was to placate the Liao and Western Xia kingdoms by a form of "checkbook diplomacy." Ultimately the Song dynasty was overrun by Mongols, but the consensus among scholars nowadays is that by paying off their opponents with annual tribute, rather than going to war, the Song did the right thing.
回首一千年前，宋朝一開國就無法抵禦外侮，只能選擇以「金錢外交」來安撫契丹族的遼與黨項族的西夏，最後還為蒙古所滅。然而以歲幣代替戰爭的作法，今天的學者多數卻是肯定的。