Joseph pondered for a moment and then said, "I think Lefevre can be exceptionally promoted to major. The Guard Corps is now short of talent, and we need to give more opportunities to officers with potential."
What he said was also the truth. Because the Guard Corps initially restricted its recruitment to commoners and lesser nobles, there was a notable shortage of mid-to-high ranking officers—during this era in France, only the wealthier nobility could afford the military academy education which led to high-ranking officer positions. Without money or connections, even if one entered the military academy, they could only study less popular courses like surveying or engineering, where promotion would be extremely slow.
For this reason, in the Guard Corps, many lieutenants had to serve as company commanders, simply due to a severe shortage of captains.