posts_per_page showing only 1 post instead of 3 posts - wordpress

Question

I have a loop that should show recent blog posts. The problem is the posts_per_page shows only one post instead of three posts.
I couldn't figure out where I am going wrong.
I tried the following steps but did not help, but did not work for me.
ignore_sticky_posts = > true,
update_post_term_cache=>false,
nopaging=>true
The code is:
<section class="ftco-section" id="blog-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row justify-content-center mb-5 pb-5">
<div class="col-md-7 heading-section text-center ftco-animate">
<h1 class="big big-2">Blog</h1>
<h2 class="mb-4">Our Blog</h2>
<p>Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row d-flex">
<?php if (have_posts()) :
while (have_posts()) :the_post(); ?>
<div class="col-md-4 d-flex ftco-animate">
<div class="blog-entry justify-content-end">
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="block-20" style="background-image: url('<?php echo get_the_post_thumbnail_url(get_the_ID()); ?>');">
</a>
<div class="text mt-3 float-right d-block">
<div class="d-flex align-items-center mb-3 meta">
<p class="mb-0">
<span class="mr-2">June 21, 2019</span>
Admin
<span class="icon-chat"></span> 3
</p>
</div>
<h3 class="heading"><?php the_title(); ?></h3>
<p><?php echo wp_trim_words(get_the_excerpt(), 30); ?></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
</div>
</section>
Is this the correct way to loop?
The problem that I'm getting is that now I do not see any of the blog posts.

Answer 1

From what I see in your code, you are displaying your content outside the while loop. Also, you were merging the query arguments array with the $wp_query->query and those are different. You want to use: $wp_query->query_vars
Before you read further, make sure you visit the following links:
query_posts() documentation
The Loop documentation
Your code should be something like:
<?php
global $wpdb;
$args = array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'orderby' => 'date',
'order' => 'DESC',
'posts_per_page' => 3,
);
$this_query = new WP_Query( $args );
?>
<section class="ftco-section" id="blog-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row justify-content-center mb-5 pb-5">
<div class="col-md-7 heading-section text-center ftco-animate">
<h1 class="big big-2">Blog</h1>
<h2 class="mb-4">Our Blog</h2>
<p>Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row d-flex">
<?php if ( $this_query->have_posts() ) : ?>
<?php while ( $this_query->have_posts() ) : $this_query->the_post(); ?>
<div class="col-md-4 d-flex ftco-animate">
<div class="blog-entry justify-content-end">
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" class="block-20" style="background-image: url('<?php echo get_the_post_thumbnail_url(get_the_ID()); ?>');">
</a>
<div class="text mt-3 float-right d-block">
<div class="d-flex align-items-center mb-3 meta">
<p class="mb-0">
<span class="mr-2">June 21, 2019</span>
Admin
<span class="icon-chat"></span> 3
</p>
</div>
<h3 class="heading"><?php the_title(); ?></h3>
<p><?php echo wp_trim_words(get_the_excerpt(), 30); ?></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<?php endwhile;
wp_reset_postdata();
else : ?>
<p><?php esc_html_e( 'Sorry, no posts found.' ); ?></p>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
</div>
</section>