Add Post Excerpt with Thumbnail to homepage

I want to add post excerpts to my homepage. I am using the category shortcode plugin, but i also want to show the thumbnails.

I dont have any widget area available, just have to add code.

The site is https://www.webdevworks.org/dev16/imagechina82/

I want it to show posts on the homepage exactly like on this site
https://beyourbestasia.com/ (like the latest articles (however that site has a widget area there, so it is easy to add latest posts and options.

How do i do this, so it adds say the latest 2 posts automatically and with the featured images? this must be a common request?