How to put Blog Loop on Every Page

So use $query = new WP_Query( 'posts_per_page=5' );
https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Function_Reference/WP_Query#Pagination_Parameters

I tried this and it just brings back errors:

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php
// The Query
$query = new WP_Query( 'posts_per_page=5' );

// The Loop
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post();
	echo '<li>';
	the_title();
	echo '</li>';
endwhile;

// Reset Post Data
wp_reset_postdata();
?>
     <?php endif; ?>

I posted this on CSS-Tricks.com and someone said to use this:

<div class="fourcolumn">
        <h2>Latest Post</h2>

        <?php query_posts( 'posts_per_page=1' ); ?>
        <?php if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
                <div class="lp-dates"><?php the_time('M <br /> j') ?></div>

                <div class="latest-post"><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php wpe_excerpt('wpe_excerptlength_teaser', 'wpe_excerptmore'); ?></a><div class="dash-divider"></div></div>
        <?php endwhile; ?>

        <?php else: ?>
                <h1>Not Found</h1>  

                <p>Apologies, but no results were found for the requested archive. Perhaps searching will help find a related post</p>
        <?php endif; ?>
</div>

It works perfect!