How do I show the first two posts only? - php

Question

I am quit new to WordPress theme development. I am trying to show only the first two recent posts on my homepage but whatever I do the code always loops through the whole posts. Any help is appreciated.
index.php:
<?php get_header(); ?>
<?php $args = array(
'numberposts' => 10,
'offset' => 0,
'category' => 0,
'orderby' => 'post_date',
'order' => 'DESC',
'post_type' => 'post',
'post_status' => 'draft, publish, future, pending, private',
'suppress_filters' => true );
$recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts( $args );
?>
<?php if(have_posts()) :
if(have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div class="content">
<div class="container-fluid">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-4">
<h2><?php the_title() ?></h2>
<?php the_post_thumbnail('banner-image') ?>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4">
<h2><?php the_title() ?></h2>
<?php the_post_thumbnail('banner-image') ?>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4">
<div class="pull-right marTop20">
<h4>Most recent posts</h4>
<?php $recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts($args); ?>
<?php foreach($recent_posts as $recent){ ?>
<ul class="list-unstyled">
<?php echo '<li class="list-item">' . $recent["post_title"].' </li> '; ?>
</ul>
<?php } ?>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-4">
<p><?php echo get_the_excerpt(); ?>
Read more</p>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4">
<p><?php echo get_the_excerpt(); ?>
Read more</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<?php
endif;
endif;
?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>

Answer 1

Use this
$args = array (
'order' => 'DESC',
'post_type' => 'post',
'post_status' => 'draft, publish, future, pending, private',
'posts_per_page' => 2,
'orderby' => 'post_date',
);
$query = new WP_Query($args);
if ( $query->have_posts() ) :
while ( $query->have_posts() ) : $query->the_post();
/* Your Code */
endwhile;
endif ;

Answer 2

You have to loop over the wp_get_recent_posts return value:
foreach($recent_posts as $recent_post) {
// stuff
}
Also, set in args the numberpost to 2.

Answer 3

Change Line 3 to:
'numberposts' => 2,
Here is the full documentation for the function: https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_get_recent_posts